A significant majority of Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives support the Senate-passed national security bill, which includes military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but Speaker Mike Johnson is standing in the way, said House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Republican Patrick McHenry on CBS News, UNN reports.
They support 80 to 90% of what is contained in the draft law. About two-thirds of the House of Representatives share this opinion. It will be done. The only question is how it will be done and how long it will take
But the current obstacle, according to McHenry, is Johnson.
"What's axiomatic in the House of Representatives is that any speaker can stand in the way of a House majority for a period of time, but not forever," McHenry said, adding, "I hope the speaker will look at this very wisely.
According to McHenry, if Johnson does not give in and allow a vote on the Senate bill, there are two parliamentary maneuvers that could help get around Johnson - a discharge petition or a dismissal of the previous question. Both would require Democrats and enough Republicans to come together and force a vote on the bill. McHenry said that a discharge petition, in which a majority of House members publicly sign a petition to bring the bill to the floor, has no more than a 30% chance of success. According to him, the rejection of the previous question, when the majority demands an immediate vote on a bill that is not in the chamber, is somewhat more likely. Rejecting the previous question is almost never successful.
"We haven't done that in the U.S. House of Representatives in generations," said McHenry. "Rejecting the previous question is like a nuclear device. It is a large-scale war. This is another mechanism that allows us to bring this bill to the floor," he said.
McHenry said that the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny should encourage Republicans to support additional billions of dollars in military and economic aid to Ukraine.
"This is to show the barbaric regime that exists in Moscow," McHenry said. - "They have not changed... It should be useful for politicians to see what is at stake. Human life is at stake. Western civilization is undergoing a serious test. The first world is being challenged. Civil society is being challenged... We are a great democracy on the planet. And we have to be an example for the rest of the world and have a security umbrella for the rest of the world so that we can have economic prosperity.