Freedom Caucus: Iran attack on Israel sets up ‘bogus’ reason to pass Ukraine aid

The House Freedom Caucus is warning GOP leadership not to use Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend as “justification” to send additional aid to Ukraine, as lawmakers in both parties and chambers call on the lower chamber to pass the Senate-approved foreign aid package — which includes support for both Israel and Ukraine.

In an official statement released Monday, the conservative group said the attack is a “bogus justification” to approve more assistance for Ukraine.

“Under no circumstances will the House Freedom Caucus abide using the emergency situation in Israel as a bogus justification to ram through Ukraine aid with no offset and no security for our own wide-open borders,” the Freedom Caucus wrote.

Instead, the group urged the Senate to take up the $14.3 billion stand-alone Israel aid bill the House approved in November, which also included an equal amount in cuts to IRS funding.

Senate Democrats have already dubbed that legislation a non-starter, expressing opposition to the IRS cuts and raising concerns about moving aid for Israel and Ukraine separately.

“The House Freedom Caucus stands unequivocally with Israel. Congress should provide aid to Israel — and the House has already done so nearly five months ago and paid for it. The Senate must act immediately to take up H.R. 6126, the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, to support our ally,” the official position reads.

The stance from the House Freedom Caucus — made up of roughly three dozen conservatives — comes as the lower chamber is poised to enter the debate over foreign aid this week.

Questions remain over how Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) intends to barrel into the politically prickly discussion, with a growing contingent of his conference expressing opposition to additional aid for Ukraine, and as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) threatens to force a vote on his ouster.

Johnson told Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” over the weekend that the House would “try again” on passing Israel aid this week but did not disclose particulars on the legislation. He also did not say whether Ukraine aid would be included.

“The details of that package are being put together right now. We’re looking at the options on all these supplemental issues,” Johnson said.

When asked about Ukraine aid, Johnson once again floated sending the assistance in the form of a loan and including the REPO Act, which would use seized frozen Russian assets to help Kyiv.

“I think these are ideas that I think can get consensus. And that’s what we have been working through. We will send our package. We will put something together and send it to the Senate and get these obligations completed,” Johnson said.

Members in both parties and chambers are urging Johnson to stage a vote on the $95 billion Senate supplement, which cleared the upper chamber in a bipartisan 70-29 vote in February and includes aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

“We must take up the bipartisan and comprehensive national security bill passed by the Senate forthwith,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter on Monday. “This is a Churchill or Chamberlain moment. House Democrats will defend democracy and do everything in our legislative power to confront aggression. Will factions within the Republican majority continue to appease it?”

“Congress must also do its part. The national security supplemental that has waited months for action will provide critical resources to Israel and our own military forces in the region,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote in a statement Saturday.

Johnson, however, could face a vote on his ouster if he puts that legislation on the floor. Greene, who last month filed a motion to vacate — the same mechanism used to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — has not yet forced a vote on the legislation.

The Georgia Republican has not said when she plans to trigger a vote on Johnson’s ouster, but she has warned him not to put Ukraine aid on the floor.

“Right now he does not have my support, and I’m watching what happens with FISA and Ukraine,” Greene told reporters after meeting with Johnson last week, referring to the reauthorization of the U.S.’s warrantless surveillance powers.

Some Democrats, though, have said they would step in and protect Johnson from a GOP coup if he put the Senate aid bill on the floor, a detail that adds to the political minefield Johnson is facing.

“If the choice is between Ukraine aid and providing a vote to stop a motion to vacate, or no Ukraine aid, I think there’s a lot of Democrats who would be willing to assist in getting it done,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) told The Hill last month.