The US House of Representatives passed legislation on Thursday to provide additional aid to Ukraine and impose new sanctions on Russia's economy, defying objections from Republican leadership and the White House. The bill passed 226-195, with the vast majority of Republicans voting against it. It is the second significant foreign policy rebuke of President Donald Trump by the House in as many days — the previous day, lawmakers approved a war powers resolution to limit US military action against Iran.
The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, would provide more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid to Ukraine and make a further $8 billion available through defence loans. Supporters bypassed Republican leadership entirely by using a discharge petition — a procedural tool that allows a simple majority of the House's 435 members to bring a bill to the floor without the approval of party leaders. Gathering the required 218 signatures to trigger the mechanism, the bill's backers forced a floor vote that leadership had sought to block.
Republican leaders argued the bill was counterproductive. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said ongoing negotiations between Congress and the White House were on track to produce stronger results for Ukraine, and that passing the legislation now would set those talks back. Representative Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, dismissed the measure as "an unserious bill" drafted some 18 months ago and called it "a cudgel to fight against President Trump." Representative French Hill of Arkansas, while describing himself as a strong Ukraine supporter, warned that the bill actually reduced funding compared to existing defence policy commitments and could negatively affect NATO spending. A small number of Republicans broke with their party; Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska put the stakes bluntly: "Are we going to stand with good or are we going to stand with evil?"
The bill's prospects in the Senate remain uncertain. Under Senate rules, most legislation requires 60 votes to advance — a threshold supporters acknowledge the bill is unlikely to reach without Trump's backing. Nonetheless, backers say the vote sends an important signal. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, one of the Republicans who signed the discharge petition, said the passage would reassure Ukrainian soldiers and signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that congressional support for Ukraine remains alive.
The vote reflects growing frustration in Congress over the stalled peace process. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, is now in its fourth year with no resolution in sight. US-led ceasefire negotiations have made little headway — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted an unconditional ceasefire proposed by Trump, but Putin refused. Since April 2024, no major Ukraine-specific legislation has passed, though some funding has been included in annual spending bills. Total US assistance for Ukraine has reached approximately $195 billion, according to the latest inspector general report for Operation Atlantic Resolve, the US military's support mission in Europe.