House Clears Second Procedural Hurdle On USD$95B Foreign Aid Package

The House of Representatives has voted in favour of the rule to consider House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) foreign aid supplemental bill, which includes new funds for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific and a sidecar bill which includes the Tik-Tok divestiture bill, the REPO Act, and various new measures on Iran.

• The vote clears the second procedural hurdle for the bill and tees up debate and amendment on the package before final voting at roughly 13:30 ET 18:30 BST Saturday. Any bills which pass the House on Saturday will be merged into a single piece of legislation for the Senate to consider.
• The final rule vote saw 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans vote "yes" with 39 Dems and 55 Republicans voting "no" - a stronger show of support from the GOP than some analysts predicted.
• Eyes are now on whether hardline Republican rep Marjorie Tayler Greene (R-GA) will use the vote as justification to trigger her motion to oust Johnson. If she does so today it would likely set up an ouster vote for the week starting April 29.
• Notably, Johnson declined to include language reforming the motion to vacate in the package, a move which had the backing of many Rs and Ds and would have insulated him from ouster.