Republican lawmakers joined Democrats for the second time in as many days to deliver a foreign policy rebuke to President Donald Trump, this time helping pass legislation that would provide new aid to Ukraine and impose sanctions targeting key sectors of the Russian economy.
The House approved the measure Thursday by a 226-195 vote after supporters used a discharge petition to force a floor vote over the objections of Republican leadership, which argued the bill could interfere with negotiations the administration says are aimed at achieving a broader settlement related to the war.
The vote followed Wednesday's passage of a war powers resolution seeking to halt further U.S. military action against Iran, another White House-backed policy that faced resistance from a small group of Republicans who sided with Democrats.
The Ukraine legislation, introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks, would provide more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction assistance to Ukraine while making an additional $8 billion available through defense loans. "We all want this war to end," Meeks said during floor debate as The Guardian reports. "The question is how. Will we abandon Ukraine and force it into a terrible deal? That is what Vladimir Putin is counting on."
The vast majority of Republicans opposed the bill, but several members broke with party leadership. Rep. Don Bacon, one of the Republicans supporting the measure, framed the vote as a moral issue. "Are we going to stand with good or are we going to stand with evil?" he said.
Republican leaders criticized the legislation as an attempt to undermine Trump's foreign policy. Rep. Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the bill "a cudgel to fight against President Trump."
Trump reacted angrily Thursday to the earlier Iran vote when four Republicans joined Democrats to pass the measure, lashing out at those lawmakers by calling them "unpatriotic" and accusing them of undermining his administration's efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.
In a Truth Social post, he wrote that "4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats" had voted to limit his war powers "right in the middle of my final negotiations" with Iran, and dismissed the GOP defectors as "GRANDSTANDERS" who "should be ashamed of themselves."
Supporters of the Ukraine bill acknowledged it faces uncertain prospects in the Senate, where lawmakers are unlikely to move forward without Trump's backing. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said the House vote was also intended to send a message of continued American support for Kyiv.
Congress has approved roughly $195 billion tied to the Ukraine response since Russia's invasion, according to the latest inspector general report for Operation Atlantic Resolve. The last major Ukraine funding package passed in April 2024.
