The House on Thursday passed legislation that would provide Ukraine with more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid and sanction key segments of the Russian economy, overriding objections from Republican leaders in a 226-195 vote that represented a significant rebellion against President Donald Trump’s approach to the war in Ukraine.
The vote, which marked the House’s second major foreign policy break with Trump this week, came a day after the chamber approved a war powers resolution aimed at halting U.S. military action against Iran.
Supporters were able to force a vote on the Ukraine bill by gathering 218 signatures on a discharge petition, a procedural tool that allows a majority of House members to bypass leadership and bring legislation directly to the floor. Once rarely successful, House members have used the petition tool this Congress to pass bills on releasing the government’s files on Jeffrey Epstein and to extend healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, though the latter measure later faltered in the Senate, as MSI previously reported in covering the discharge petition’s success in forcing a House vote.
The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, would cement U.S. assistance for Ukraine by providing more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid and making an additional $8 billion available for Ukraine’s defense through loans.
“We all want this war to end,” Meeks said on the House floor. “The question is how. Will we abandon Ukraine and force it into a terrible deal? That is what Vladimir Putin is counting on. Or will this body live up to the commitments we’ve made since the start of this war?”
The vast majority of Republicans opposed the measure. Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he viewed the bill as “a cudgel to fight against President Trump” and called it “an unserious bill that was crafted basically a year-and-a-half ago.”
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska broke with most of his Republican colleagues, voicing support for the legislation. “Are we going to stand with good or are we going to stand with evil? That’s what this is about tonight,” Bacon said.
Supporters said they hoped the House’s passage would pressure the Senate to act, while acknowledging the bill’s uncertain prospects in the upper chamber without Trump’s endorsement.
“It’s probably not going to get 60 votes in the Senate, but it’s going to hopefully force the Senate to address the issue,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who signed the discharge petition and voted to advance the bill. “It’s going to send a great message to the soldiers of Ukraine.”
Fitzpatrick said the vote would also send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that “we do have a pulse here, that we do care about Ukraine and that we are going to utilize our authority to help them.”
The U.S. has approved approximately $195 billion for the Ukraine response, according to the latest quarterly inspector general report for Operation Atlantic Resolve, with roughly a quarter of that going to replenish weapons stockpiles for the U.S. military. The last major legislation designed to bolster the Ukraine response occurred in April 2024, though modest amounts have since been included in annual appropriations bills.