Pro-Ukraine Republican says he'll go AROUND Speaker Mike Johnson to force vote on $66 billion in assistance to fight Russia and Hamas as GOP leadership drags feet on advancing foreign aid package

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said Thursday he and a group of bipartisan lawmakers are launching an effort to force a floor vote on funds for Israel and Ukraine as Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to say what the path forward is on foreign aid. 

Next week Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., together with a handful of moderate Republicans and Democrats, will garner signatures on a discharge petition, a procedural mechanism that would force a floor vote if a majority in the House signs on. 

Their bill offers $66 billion in defense-only aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and fresh border security provisions that would last a year.

The petition will be a numbers game on whether it can successfully push the bill to the floor. 

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said Thursday he and a group of Republicans are launching an effort to force a floor vote on funds for Israel and Ukraine as Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to say what the path forward is on foreign aid

They will lose signatures on the progressive left due to opposition to Israel aid and a lack of humanitarian provisions and will lose signatures on the far right from those who outright oppose further funding of Ukraine's war against Russia. 

Fitzpatrick told reporters he spoke to Johnson about the bill, but claimed he did not speak to him about going around his back with a discharge petition. 

'This is just to apply pressure point to get something done sooner.' 

Asked if he thought Johnson had any sense of urgency around Ukraine, Fitzpatrick said: 'I think he knows how time-sensitive it is.' 

Ukrainian servicemen of the National Guard take part in radiation, chemical and biological hazard drills, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near Kharkiv, Ukraine February 29, 2024

Ukrainian soldiers collect their belongings at the entrance to a shelter in the direction of Bakhmut as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on February 28, 2024

The House bill also includes a 'Remain in Mexico' provision which would resurrect the Trump-era policy requiring migrants who claim asylum to wait in Mexico until their claim is processed.

Another provision requires the Homeland Security secretary to suspend all entry of 'inadmissible aliens' if at any point the department loses operational control of the border. 

The bill also gives immigration officers the authority to immediately expel those who they determine to be inadmissible without further hearing or review.

The package includes $47 billion for Ukraine, $10 billion for Israel, $5 billion for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, $2.5 billion for U.S. Central Command and its fight against Iran in the Red Sea and $500 million for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

Congress has spent months at an impasse over further aid for U.S. allies - as the rightward flank of the House has even begun to threaten to motion to vacate Johnson from the speakership if he puts further Ukraine aid on the House floor.

But by forcing a floor vote and leaving Johnson's hands tied, hardliners might not be able to blame the speaker, essentially saving his job.

'Your words, not mine,' Fitzpatrick said with a smile and a nod when that prospect was posed to him by reporters. 

It is an alternative to the Senate-passed $95 billion aid package that stripped out immigration provisions that conservatives said did not go far enough.

It's led by Fitzpatrick, Don Bacon, R-Neb., Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. Lori, Chavez-DeRemer, R-Wash., Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., Jared Golden, D-Maine, Ed Case, D-Hawaii, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., Don Davis, D-N.C., and Jim Costa, D-Calif.,

Asked what his path forward is on foreign aid, Johnson told reporters at a press conference: 'House is actively considering options on a path forward that.'  

'Our first responsibility is to fund the government. And our primary, overriding responsibility is to secure the border.'

 Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin again warned the West that they risk nuclear conflict by becoming further entrenched in his war on Ukraine. 

In an annual speech to the nation on Thursday, he said nations helping Ukraine strike Russian territory or considering sending troops 'must, in the end, understand' that 'all this truly threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and therefore the destruction of civilization.'

'We also have weapons that can strike targets on their territory,' Putin said. 'Do they not understand this?'

President Emmanuel Macron of France earlier this week alluded to the possibility of NATO countries sending troops to Ukraine.