Will Congress pass aid to Israel after Iran strikes? Top Republicans say lawmakers could vote this week

Lawmakers vowed to address U.S. aid to Israel, likely this week, following Iran's major drone and missile attack against Israel over the weekend.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures that the lower chamber is exploring options for what's known as a "clean" aid bill for Israel. That means it wouldn't include other priorities, such as funding for Ukraine, which has stalled in Congress as a sticking point for the House Republicans' right flank.

Johnson said he hopes to have a package ready for this week and that lawmakers are currently working on the details.

"We’ll put something together and send it to the Senate and get these obligations complete,” he told Fox.

Others, though, are calling for the House to vote on a $95 billion aid package that already passed in the Senate. The proposal includes $60 billion to Ukraine, which has been battling Russia since February 2022. However, it faces an uphill climb in the House as a growing number of right-wing lawmakers argue that America has done enough for the war-torn nation.

Nevertheless, House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, R-Ohio, told NBC's Kristen Welker that he expects a vote on broader aid proposals in the coming days.

That bill passed by the Senate would also send $14 billion in military assistance to Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian assistance to Gaza and elsewhere, and nearly $5 billion to defend Taiwan.

“We’re at a critical point, Russia is beginning to gain ground, Ukraine is beginning to lose the ability to defend itself,” Turner said. “The United States must step up and provide Ukraine the weapons they need and I think we’re going to see overwhelming support for that in the House this week.”

White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said speed is of the essence, when asked by "Fox News Sunday" host Shannon Noelle Bream if President Joe Biden would sign a new aid bill only providing aid to Israel.

"The fastest way to be able to support our partners in Ukraine and our ally in Israel is to move forward with what the Senate passed in a bipartisan way," he said. "That bipartisan bill gets the funding to Ukraine it gets the funding to Israel, it also helps us on the Indo-Pacific and the border."

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, also told CBS that the U.S. cannot "pick and choose" fights.

“Look, we didn’t pick and choose our enemies in World War II. We went after all of them. Japan, Italy and Germany," McCaul said. "We can’t just pick, you know, say Iran’s bad, Russia’s ok and China’s bad ... They’re all in this together.”

McCaul, who serves as the chair of the House Foreign Affairs committee, said he plans to speak with Johnson Sunday evening, alongside other national security chairs, and that he has a commitment from the speaker that the Senate aid package will come to the House floor for a vote. "My preference is this week."

"We don’t have time on our side here," McCaul said. "We have to get this done.”

But as lawmakers have spent months debating foreign aid, they're also contending with another factor. Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has said he does not want to see humanitarian aid to go to Ukraine unless it’s in the form of a loan.

His comments come as he has been sharply critical of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. At a campaign rally in South Carolina in February, Trump said he once told the leader of a NATO country that allies in the international organization need to pay the agreed-upon 2% of their GDP on military readiness or he would "encourage" Russia “to do whatever the hell they want."

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Republican lawmakers vow to address Israel aid after Iran attacks