Jeffries Weighs How to Force Ukraine Aid Vote While Keeping Democrats United

The House Democratic leader is facing a critical test of whether he can hold his party together long enough to force a vote on an aid package for Ukraine amid progressive opposition to its funding for Israel.

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Hakeem Jeffries and other top Democrats are considering a variety of long-shot maneuvers to force a vote on military aid for Ukraine to the House floor.

The stalemate on Capitol Hill over sending vital military aid to Ukraine is posing a critical test for Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the New York Democrat and minority leader, who may hold the only remaining key to overcoming Republican opposition.

With the hard right dug in against the measure and the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, unwilling to bring it up, Mr. Jeffries and other top Democrats are considering a variety of long-shot maneuvers to force it to the House floor. Once there, the $95 billion foreign aid bill that commits $60.1 billion to Ukraine funding would almost certainly have enough bipartisan support to pass.

But that would require Mr. Jeffries to quell a backlash against the package in his own party, where left-wing lawmakers are deeply opposed to the $14.1 billion in security assistance it would provide to Israel. Their resistance could make it more difficult for Mr. Jeffries to orchestrate an end run around Mr. Johnson, which would likely require near-total Democratic unity, as well as some Republican support, to have any chance of success.

The legislation passed the Senate this month with solid bipartisan support, and enjoys similarly broad backing in the House, where a vast majority of Democrats are in favor and dozens of Republicans have consistently voted for bolstering Ukraine’s war effort.

But Mr. Johnson has rejected bipartisan appeals to bring the foreign aid bill to a vote, a move that at least one right-wing lawmaker has said would prompt her to call for his removal. The speaker and many other Republicans have said they have no intention of considering more assistance for Ukraine without first securing the United States border with Mexico through severe immigration restrictions. And with former President Donald J. Trump egging them on from the campaign trail, there is a potentially high political price to pay for any Republican who crosses them.

That has led Democrats and some Republicans to begin discussing the prospect of banding together to go around Mr. Johnson and force the measure to the floor. The options for doing so all require a majority, or 218 lawmakers, to go along. That threshold has become increasingly feasible for Democrats given the shrinking Republican majority; the G.O.P. now controls only 219 votes, while Democrats hold 212.

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