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US House of Representatives greenlights additional $300m for Ukraine

It was separated from the Pentagon bill.

US House of Representatives greenlights additional $300m for Ukraine
Photo: EPA/UPG

House Republicans closed ranks and narrowly passed their annual defense spending bill late Thursday after they removed Ukraine aid from the legislation, which cleared in a separate vote, Politico has reported.

The $826 billion defense bill passed in a near-party-line vote of 218-210.

All but two Democrats opposed the bill over its myriad conservative policy provisions while all but two Republicans supported it.

The separate bill carved out to allocate those funds for Kyiv passed Thursday in a 311-117 blowout bipartisan vote. Republicans had won a close procedural vote earlier in the day to separate the Ukraine money from the Pentagon bill.

The measure is one of four spending bills Republicans aimed to pass this week. But the incremental GOP victory is overshadowed by an increasingly likely government shutdown this weekend.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who failed twice last week to advance the bill to the floor, finally locked down enough Republican votes to pass the bill after the House stripped $300 million to arm Ukraine from the text.

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