On Wednesday morning, Capitol Hill was still waiting on Speaker Mike Johnson’s highly anticipated foreign aid package.
He’s pledged to give his colleagues 72 hours to review the four separate bills before voting on them, which would push action into the weekend — right before a planned Passover recess packed with CODEL trips.
The foreign aid package’s separate bills would send aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. A fourth could include a package of related measures, including a lend-lease deal for military aid, a ban on TikTok in the U.S. and provisions to sell off assets seized from Russian oligarchs.
The plan, as it stands before lawmakers can get their hands on text, is to try to pass each as stand-alone measures before packaging them together and shipping them to the Senate.
Johnson spent Tuesday meeting with different factions and cross-sections of the Republican Conference, hearing out frustrations and trying to sell his plan to colleagues. Some of the four foreign aid bills — especially the Ukraine measure — would garner hefty Democratic support. That’s a prospect many conservatives are uncomfortable with. They also want border security policies included in the package.
The foreign aid bid comes not only with high stakes for foreign allies, but also for Johnson, as he tries to keep his job amid threats from within his conference.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) joined Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) effort to oust Johnson from the speakership on Tuesday, but the pair still don’t have a timeline for acting on their motion to vacate.
Likely not the trial of the century: Senators will be sworn in Wednesday as jurors in the impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, though it could be relatively quick.
There were negotiations on Tuesday to possibly allow for a few hours of debate before Democrats vote to dismiss the articles of impeachment. But nothing was finalized Tuesday evening. Plus, it would require unanimous consent, which means any naysayer could tank an agreement.
There will be a rare packed chamber in the Senate on Wednesday starting at 1 p.m., with senators all in their seats, for the Mayorkas proceedings.