Speaker Mike Johnson says he will NOT set aside the $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine and Israel as Democrats vow to use ‘all options’ to try to force a vote on the massive package

Speaker Mike Johnson said he will not introduce the Senate’s national security relief bill in the House of Representatives, hours after the Senate spent the night pushing the bill through the House.

“I certainly don’t (plan to),” he told reporters on Tuesday. “Right now we’re in the appropriations process, we have immediate deadlines and that’s where the attention is focused in the House right now.”

The $95 billion aid package included funding for Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and Taiwan. Immigration provisions were eliminated entirely after conservatives insisted they did not go far enough to secure the southern border.

Without Johnson’s approval, there is now talk of upending the deal through a mysterious resignation application. This would require 218 members to sign a demand to override legislation.

“All the options that are on the table, we’re going to use every legislative tool available,” Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters. “There are more than 300 bipartisan votes” to pass the foreign aid bill, he claimed.

Without Johnson’s approval, there is now talk of upending the deal through a mysterious resignation application. “All options on the table, we’re going to use every legislative tool available,” Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.

It passed the Senate Tuesday morning after a rare overnight session that ended in a 70-29 vote.

In total, the package includes $61 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel in its war against Hamas and $4.83 billion to support partners in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, to deter China’s aggression.

It also provides $9.15 billion in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine and other conflict zones around the world.

President Biden implored the House on Tuesday to approve the deal. “History is watching,” he said. “The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten.”

Even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged Johnson to move the bill to the House floor.

“We’ve heard all kinds of rumors about whether the House supports Ukraine or not. It seems to me that the easy way to solve that is to vote,” McConnell said Politics.

After House Speaker Mike Johnson objected to the deal’s immigration provisions, senators focused on passing it without them. But Johnson insisted he wanted border measures, just not the immigration reforms they had offered.

He called the deal “insufficient” without border security measures in a late-night statement, saying the Senate “has failed to meet the moment.”

“Now that the House has not received any change in Senate border policy, the House will have to continue to exercise its will on these important issues,” Johnson continued. “America deserves better than the Senate status quo.”

But Johnson has not planned another standalone Israeli aid bill that failed last week.

“We knew this was going to happen,” Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., chairman of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, told reporters. “We knew the Senate would send it back without the so-called border security.”

“We should not borrow $100 billion from our children or grandchildren to send it abroad. It mainly involves Hamas support, with money going to Gaza… Israel’s support, which enjoys almost unanimous support among Republicans, should not be held hostage to these other concerns.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., blamed Mitch McConnell for the dysfunction, while other Republicans ousted the longtime leader.

The US has had to cut military aid to Ukraine after budget authority dried up. The two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion is approaching

Ukraine’s war with Russia lasted more than two years

He then called on Johnson to approve Israeli aid with compensation. But Johnson did this months ago, paid for by taking money from the IRS — and the Senate rejected it outright.

Last week, Republicans struck a $118 billion bipartisan deal to strengthen border security while funding Ukraine and Israel. They accused the country of not going far enough to secure the border and said it would reinforce Biden’s “open border” policy.

It was not easy to get Senate Republicans on board with the thinner $95 billion deal without immigration measures, while emotions ran high over the tanked border deal.

But in the end, more than a dozen Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the bill, fearing it would embolden Russian President Putin.

The vote Tuesday morning had the support of 22 Republicans. However, two Democrats, Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Peter Welch of Vermont, and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, voted against it.