Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky provided House Speaker Mike Johnson with an update on the situation in Ukraine during a telephone conversation, coinciding with Congress’ deliberations on extending further foreign aid to the besieged nation.
In a post shared on X on Thursday afternoon, Zelensky expressed gratitude to the speaker and the entire U.S. government for their support, while also advocating for ongoing assistance.
“In this situation, quick passage of US aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital,” Zelensky said. “We recognize that there are differing views in the House of Representatives on how to proceed, but the key is to keep the issue of aid to Ukraine as a unifying factor.”
The telephone conversation occurs amidst disagreement among congressional leaders regarding the next steps for providing foreign aid to nations like Ukraine and Israel. Presently, two conflicting discharge petitions are circulating among House lawmakers, aiming to bring Ukraine aid to the forefront.
However, neither petition has garnered the necessary support of 218 members to advance the legislation without Johnson’s approval. Bringing a discharge petition to the floor is a challenging task, as it requires significant bipartisan backing for any proposal to proceed successfully.
One of the petitions put forward by House Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-MA) would advance the supplemental bill pairing Ukraine and Israel aid that passed the Senate in mid-February. That bill has been deemed dead on arrival by Johnson because of its lack of border security measures, which were stripped from the bill before its passage in the upper chamber.
Meanwhile, there’s another discharge petition floating around the House that represents a compromise version of the Senate bill and includes border security provisions. That effort, led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Jared Golden (D-ME), has received pushback from some House Democrats who reject the unconditional aid to Israel as it wages a war on Hamas.
Johnson has faced pressure from various quarters to present a foreign aid proposal for consideration, including from fellow Republican senators.
The speaker has signaled his intention to proceed in some capacity to promote aid for Ukraine, although the specific approach he will adopt remains uncertain. The Washington Examiner reached out to the speaker’s office for a statement.
