U.S. House passes major aid package to Ukraine over Republican leadership concerns

LINCOLN — The U.S. House of Representatives, in a bipartisan way Thursday, passed the first major aid package to Ukraine under President Donald Trump since he returned to the White House.

Despite House Republican leadership concerns, 18 Republicans joined with nearly all Democrats and the lone House independent to pass the “Ukraine Support Act.” The House narrowly voted to let the measure come up for a full floor vote after it had stalled in committee. 

The measure passed 226-195 to provide $1.3 billion in direct military aid to Ukraine and $8 billion in military sales while slapping new sanctions on Russia. The act heads to the U.S. Senate where it faces an uncertain future. It needs 60 votes to head to President Donald Trump.

‘Churchill’ vs. ‘Chamberlain’

Among the House Republicans supporting the proposal was U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who has long described support for Ukraine as a choice between “Churchill” or “Chamberlain,” referencing how two British prime ministers approached Adolf Hitler. Bacon has said not helping Ukraine now could lead to dire consequences, up to another world war or troops on the ground.

Neville Chamberlain is often blamed for trying appeasement in the 1930s with Hitler, who invaded Czechoslovakia and Poland anyway, starting World War II. That’s in contrast to the leadership of Winston Churchill who stood against Hilter during the war.

Bacon, in a Thursday floor speech, described the vote as whether the House was “going to stand with good, or are we going to stand with evil?”

“We should have done this a year ago. We could have done this in a bipartisan way a year ago, but we have not,” Bacon said. “This decision is needed now.”

Amanda Hall, executive director of the Omaha-based Orel Alliance, which supports Ukrainian refugees and families, said her nonprofit is thankful the Ukraine Support Act moved forward.

“American aid to Ukraine has stalled in spite of 70% of Americans being in favor of supporting Ukraine,” Hall told the Examiner. “This is an issue of global security and we are thrilled that this legislation is moving forward at long last.”

‘Inaction on Ukraine ends now’

The bill was led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who mustered just enough signatures to force a floor vote on his measure.

Meeks has said he would have preferred the measure go through the regular committee process, a complaint shared by multiple Republicans, including the committee chair, Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., as well as Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb. However, Meeks and Bacon, among other supporters, said Congress needed to act.

“Inaction on Ukraine ends now,” Meeks said after Thursday’s vote. “Today’s bipartisan vote to pass the Ukraine Support Act demonstrates that the House stands with the Ukrainian people and that we will hold the criminal Russian regime accountable for its illegal war.”

‘Tie the president’s hands’

Flood, the chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus, a group of more than 80 House Republicans, told the Nebraska Examiner that “Putin is a thug” and that since joining the House in 2022, Flood had “consistently voted to support Ukraine against his unprovoked aggression.”

“Right now, presenting a united front in ongoing negotiations should be our priority,” Flood said Friday. “Bypassing regular order to pass a short-sighted bill that undermines our negotiating position is not how we end this war.”

Multiple Republicans, including House leaders, echoed similar sentiments, as did Mast.

“What this bill would do is tie the president’s hands,” Mast said Thursday on the House floor. “It would prevent him from negotiating an end to the war. I think the reality is that in order to end this war, we have to bring Russia to the table.”

Reps. Clay Higgins, R-La., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., broadly criticized the measure for sending more tax dollars overseas.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was the lone Democrat to oppose the measure. She cited broad economic sanctions that she said “fail to achieve their stated goals while inflicting suffering on ordinary people” and “in most cases are counterproductive to ending war.” She has expressed support for a separate measure to sanction Israel.

“The foreign policy establishment continues to return to the same failed playbook and expects different results,” Omar said in a Friday social media post.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and in recent days has continued to bomb Ukrainian cities, including the capital city of Kyiv, with ballistic and hypersonic missiles. A team of Nebraskans, led by former State Sen. Tom Brewer, has entered its second and final week of what is Brewer’s ninth mission to the war-torn country since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

“We’d better be there to help them, or in the history books, it’s going to say, ‘United States failed when it’s most needed,’” Bacon said Thursday.

‘Just and lasting peace’

Ukrainian officials have thanked the House for its Thursday vote, including Andrii Sybiha, the minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine, and Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S.

“Now we look to the Senate – unity in support is vital for a just and lasting peace,” Sybiha posted Thursday on X.

‘Forgotten war’: Nebraska veteran, former lawmaker readies ninth Ukraine mission amid Russian war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also penned an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in which Zelenskyy called for an end to the war and proposed a meeting. Putin has already rejected that call.

“If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence. We will have those who support us,” Zelenskyy wrote. “But you, too, will have to fight much harder for your own existence — not Russia’s, but your own.”

Bacon, a self-described “Reagan Republican,” said his idol would be standing with him on the “right side” in voting for the measure. In a social media post Friday, Bacon said former President Ronald Reagan, if he were alive, would demand Putin “get the hell out of Ukraine.”

“This is our Churchill moment or our Chamberlain moment,” Bacon said on the House floor. “By God, I’m going to choose Churchill, and this House better choose Churchill tonight.”

U.S. Rep Adrian Smith, a Republican who represents Nebraska’s sprawling 3rd Congressional District, did not respond to a request for comment to explain his opposition to Meeks’ measure.

Unclear future in the Senate

As the proposal heads to the U.S. Senate, it’s unclear whether it will be scheduled for a vote. 

It’s also not clear where Nebraska’s two Republican members — U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts — stand. Neither responded to a request for comment Friday, though both have called for increased sanctions in the past.

Fischer, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Ricketts are among the more than 80 cosponsors of a separate bipartisan measure to add sanctions. Despite nearly all senators joining on, the act has still stalled.

Ricketts has said the U.S. should continue to ramp up sanctions and “make it really painful.” Last year, he said it was important to work with European allies to get them to stop importing Russian gas and ensure the U.S. was arming Ukraine to the best of its ability to resist aggression.

Bacon, in a separate social media post Friday, challenged House leadership concerns, arguing they say they’re “pro-Ukraine” but couldn’t support the latest bill’s “flaws.”

“We’ve waited 18 months and they’ve done nothing,” Bacon said of House leadership. “I look forward to the speaker submitting a better bill. If he’s serious. I was tired of the excuses … history is being written and it will be a dark chapter if we don’t help Ukraine win.”