It was in October when President Joe Biden alerted Congress to the fact that Ukraine’s military supplies were running low. Unless GOP lawmakers were prepared to let Russia take part of eastern Europe by force, the Democratic incumbent said, it was time for members to provide the United States’ allies with a fresh round of security aid so that they could defend themselves.
For six months, House Republican leaders, bowing to the wishes of the most radical extremists in their conference, dithered as Putin’s regime exploited its opportunity. On Saturday, at long last, House Speaker Mike Johnson allowed representatives to exercise their will. NBC News reported:
The House on Saturday passed a $95 billion package that includes two long-awaited bills with $60.8 billion of aid for Ukraine and $26 billion in aid for Israel. The Ukraine bill, which passed 311-112 with one present, will head to the Senate alongside the Israel aid bill and two others — one with aid for Taiwan and another that would force TikTok’s parent company to sell the platform.
By any fair measure, these votes were long overdue, and it remains to be seen whether the Republican-imposed delays caused irreversible harm. That said, now that the bills have cleared the House, the Democratic-led Senate is expected to act on the legislation tomorrow, and proponents are optimistic about the outcome.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy celebrated the House vote during a “Meet the Press” appearance, telling NBC’s Kristen Welker, “I think this support will really strengthen the armed forces, I pray, and we will have a chance at victory if Ukraine really gets the weapons system, which we need so much, which thousands of soldiers need so much.”
But while much of the world waits for the Senate to send the legislation to the White House, it’s worth taking a closer look at the breakdown of the vote in the House.
On the surface, aid to Ukraine passed with 311 bipartisan votes, but just below the surface, an important dynamic comes into view: Democrats provided 210 of the votes — zero Democrats opposed the aid — while members of the GOP majority provided 101 votes.
In fact, with most of the Republican majority conference — 112 members — voting against the bill, GOP leaders found themselves in a familiar bind: In order to govern, House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team had no choice but to disregard the wishes of their far-right members and partner with the Democratic minority.
If it seems like this keeps happening, it’s not your imagination.
Ten days ago, for example, the House reauthorized the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and it was the Democratic minority that provided a majority of the votes. A few weeks earlier, the House passed a bill to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, and Democrats provided nearly two-thirds of the votes.
A month before that, House Republican leaders endorsed a stopgap spending measure and relied on Democrats to pass it. A month earlier, the House considered a bipartisan compromise on tax policy, which was endorsed by the House GOP leadership. It was nevertheless Democrats who provided most of the votes to pass it.
Two weeks earlier, a bill to prevent a partial government shutdown cleared the House, but roughly two-thirds of those votes came from the House Democratic minority.
The circumstances are becoming routine. Last September, to prevent a government shutdown, it was Democrats who provided most of the votes on a must-pass bill. Two months later, again to prevent a government shutdown, Republicans also relied on Democratic votes.
During the mid-November debate on that bill, Democratic Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois joked during floor remarks, “Next week, Americans will gather around their dinner tables and share what they’re thankful for. I hope my Republican colleagues will use that moment to reflect on how lucky you are to work with us House Democrats.” A month later, when the House needed to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Democrats again provided a majority of the votes. And when Republicans threatened to crash the economy on purpose by leveraging the debt ceiling, it was — you guessed it — Democrats who cast most of the votes to pass the bipartisan solution. As 2023 came to an end, Axios highlighted the underappreciated pattern: “Republicans may hold the House majority, but Democratic yeas outnumbered GOP votes on every major bill that landed on President Biden’s desk this year.” As 2024 advances, the pattern remains unchanged. A Washington Post report summarized this morning, “If it wasn’t obvious before, it’s obvious now. The House’s governing coalition has been cemented. It consists of nearly every Democrat and about half of Republicans. The pattern was reinforced this weekend with a vote to pass Ukraine aid, but it has played out over and over again this Congress with the passage of major pieces of legislation.” When John Boehner was a Republican House speaker, he too found himself dependent on Democrats when his far-right members didn’t want to govern. During Paul Ryan’s tenure, it happened some more. When Kevin McCarthy did the same thing, it contributed to the intraparty revolt that cost him his gavel. And now, here we are, watching Speaker Johnson do the same thing, reinforcing the fact that one of the major parties on Capitol Hill is focused on constructive policymaking, and it’s clearly not the GOP. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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