Rank-and-file members of the House of Representatives have brought forward two competing discharge petitions to go around Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and bring a foreign aid package up for a vote. The first discharge petition would force a vote on the Senate foreign aid bill that provides funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The first petition is sponsored by Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., the ranking member of the Rules Committee.
The second discharge petition, sponsored by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., would also provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and also include measures to increase security at the southern border.
For either one of these discharge petitions to be successful, they need a simple majority, which requires 216 members due to recent resignations.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who heads a new working group of Democrats for border security, said he prefers the original border deal negotiated by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and James Lankford, R-Okla., because he believes it’s more comprehensive. However, if the Fitzpatrick bill came up for a vote, he would support it.
“Senator Lankford, Murphy, they all work together to put something together, along with the administration,” Cuellar said. “I’ve seen it, it is one of the strongest border security bills that we have. But if the other one would come up, it was on the floor, I would support it.”
Cuellar also said it’s up to Fitzpatrick to get enough Republicans to get it done. Fitzpatrick disagrees.
“We can’t say it’s on any one party to get this done,” Fitzpatrick told Straight Arrow News. “We can’t. In a two vote margin, with divided chambers, this has got to be a two-party solution, that’s the only way it happens.”
Speaker Johnson opposes discharge petitions. By their nature, they force the House to vote on a bill that he won’t bring forward.
However, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, also opposes both the Senate and Fitzpatrick bills and he doesn’t think Republicans should support them.
Crenshaw said he’s optimistic something better will be brought forward.
“I think more to come in the following week, but we can definitely do better,” Crenshaw said. “Better would look like, you know, still support Ukraine, which pay for it with Russian frozen assets, and you do something on the border.”
Fitzpatrick countered that any new proposal would be even harder to pass than the two already in circulation.
“Any bill that gets introduced now is going to require to be put on suspension, which needs 290 votes,” Fitzpatrick said. “To have a border-Ukraine bill that gets 290 votes, that’s probably not going to happen. So I don’t think that’s a wise effort at this point.”