House Defies Trump By Advancing $8BN New Ukraine Aid Package

Late Wednesday saw President Trump receive a rare and much belated rebuke from the House of Representatives as it voted to pass a war powers resolution related to Iran. The passed resolution directs the withdrawal of US troops from armed hostilities with Iran, in a closely divided 215–208 vote, aided by four Republicans.

But this wasn’t the only Trump-defying vote that took place Wednesday, as The Hill reports: “Six Republicans joined Democrats on Wednesday to push through a vote on military aid for Ukraine, a blow to President Trump’s handling of Russia’s war against the country and his withdrawal of U.S. support for Kyiv.”

“The House voted 218-204 in a procedural motion that clears the way for a vote on the Ukraine Support Act, authored by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” the report adds.

So interestingly, and in a bit of a blaring contradiction, the House has shown itself to be dovish on the Iran war but hawkish on Russia-Ukraine.

Or rather, they are ‘pro’ Ukraine war but ‘anti’ Iran war, strangely enough.

“This vote is not a process vote, it’s a statement on whether this Congress and all of its members stand with and support Ukraine and the people of Ukraine, and its fight for freedom, its fight for democracy, and its fight for liberty,” Meeks said on the floor after the vote.

There was no mention of using this massive funding for diplomacy, and to get Ukrainian and Russian negotiators back to the table:

It provides $8 billion in military financing loans to Ukraine, extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) through 2027, which allows for the U.S. to send Ukraine weapons directly from Pentagon stockpiles, additional sanctions against Russia, among other provisions.

Instead, there was the usual simplistic black-and-white moral posturing in a Bush-style “with us or against us” kind of way. “It’s between Ukraine or Putin, I choose Ukraine,” Republican Rep. Joe Wilson stated.

Late last month Ukraine and Russia moved on from a brief ceasefire and resumed blasting each other. Russia has continued to make gradual progress in taking control of both the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts which together comprise the Donbas region. Moscow is insisting that Ukraine’s ceding of the last parts of the Donbas is a precondition to resumed peace talks.  

Not accounting for more billions in taxpayer dollars thrown into the Ukraine war — to say nothing of the money pit that is the US-Israeli war on Iran — the US government was in February projected to post a fiscal-year 2026 deficit of $1.9 trillion. Not that anyone in Washington cares.