U.S. House of Representatives Passes Foreign Aid Bills
Introduction
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed four bipartisan bills as part of a $95 billion foreign aid package. The funds will be allocated to various causes, including aid to Ukraine, countering China in the Indo-Pacific region, providing offensive and defensive weapons to Israel, and humanitarian aid for Gaza and other areas. Additionally, one of the bills aims to seize Russian assets and force the sale of TikTok from its Chinese owner or face an app store ban in the U.S.
Speaker Mike Johnson’s Challenge
Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, is facing a challenge to his speakership from the right flank of the House GOP. This situation mirrors last year’s ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Molly Reynolds, senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, joins The Current to discuss how these bills were passed in a deeply divided House of Representatives and the potential risk to Rep. Mike Johnson’s speakership.
Interview with Molly Reynolds
DEWS: Welcome to The Current
DEWS: Welcome to The Current, part of the Brookings Podcast Network. I’m your host, Fred Dews.
Background on Ukraine Assistance
REYNOLDS: Thanks for having me. I think one helpful way to think about this in the context of assistance to Ukraine is that substantively, and certainly from the perspective of the Ukrainians, this was must pass legislation. It’s really important to get this U.S. assistance out the door to support the Ukrainians in their continued fight against Russian aggression.
But it didn’t have a sort of hard deadline in the way that some of the other things that we’ve seen Congress work on this year did. So, thinking about things like the series of measures that the House and the Senate worked through over the past several months to keep the U.S. government funded. If they hadn’t acted on those, operations at federal agencies would have temporarily ceased. And so that, there was an action forcing mechanism in the form of a firm date. And that didn’t quite exist in the same way for Ukraine aid.
I think the other thing that’s important to think about is kind of the political dynamics here. And I think there’s a good argument that Speaker Johnson had to kind of exhaust a range of other options before he went ultimately to the one that they used last week. And we can talk more in detail about the sort of four bills, how they got packaged together.
And then lastly, I think eventually he was starting to feel more and more pressure from the members of his conference who do support additional assistance to Ukraine. I think he was feeling additional pressure from them to actually bring something to the floor and if he didn’t do it, they might have worked with Democrats to use a different procedural option that went around the speaker to do it. And so, kind of the confluence of those factors I think brought us to where we are today.
The Power of the Speaker
DEWS: As always, exciting times in Congress. Speaker Johnson had resisted putting any of these bills, especially those related to Ukraine support on the House floor for a vote until late last week. What changed his mind?
REYNOLDS: Yeah, it’s a good question. I think one helpful way to think about this in the context of assistance to Ukraine is that substantively, and certainly from the perspective of the Ukrainians, this was must pass legislation. It’s really important to get this U.S. assistance out the door to support the Ukrainians in their continued fight against Russian aggression.
But it didn’t have a sort of hard deadline in the way that some of the other things that we’ve seen Congress work on this year did. So, thinking about things like the series of measures that the House and the Senate worked through over the past several months to keep the U.S. government funded. If they hadn’t acted on those, operations at federal agencies would have temporarily ceased. And so that, there was an action forcing mechanism in the form of a firm date. And that didn’t quite exist in the same way for Ukraine aid.
I think the other thing that’s important to think about is kind of the political dynamics here. And I think there’s a good argument that Speaker Johnson had to kind of exhaust a range of other options before he went ultimately to the one that they used last week. And we can talk more in detail about the sort of four bills, how they got packaged together.
And then lastly, I think eventually he was starting to feel more and more pressure from the members of his conference who do support additional assistance to Ukraine. I think he was feeling additional pressure from them to actually bring something to the floor and if he didn’t do it, they might have worked with Democrats to use a different procedural option that went around the speaker to do it. And so, kind of the confluence of those factors I think brought us to where we are today.
The Hastert Rule and Violations
DEWS: I think that’s one of the most fascinating things about House coalitions and legislating in the House today is this idea that if a bill would only make it to the floor and just be put up for a vote, a lot of these bills would have bipartisan support as these four bills did across party lines. But there’s this thing called the Hastert rule, right, which well, you can explain what the Hastert rule is. And it seems like Speaker Johnson violated it in all four cases this time.
REYNOLDS: Yeah, so the Hastert rule is actually—we call it a rule, it’s not written down in the formal rules of the House. And so, it’s probably better described as a practice that dates to when Denny Hastert was Speaker of the House. And the idea is that a Speaker trying to kind of respect the opinions of the members of his party should not bring something to the floor of the chamber unless it’s going to get a majority of the members of his own party voting for it. So, a majority of the majority.
And it’s been pretty clear for a while that all four parts of this package, this foreign assistance package that moved last week, particularly the part that provides additional assistance to Ukraine, which has been kind of the longest simmering piece of the four, that the votes were there for the substance. All four components of this package got more than 300 votes on the floor ultimately of the 430 something current members of the House with the current roster of vacancies. So, it was clear that the support
SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis
1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?
- SDG 1: No Poverty
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 4: Quality Education
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?
- Target 1.1: By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere.
- Target 3.8: Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services, and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
- Target 4.7: By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.
- Target 5.5: Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life.
- Target 8.3: Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services.
- Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status.
- Target 16.6: Develop effective, accountable, and transparent institutions at all levels.
- Target 17.9: Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the sustainable development goals.
3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?
- Indicator 1.1.1: Proportion of population below the international poverty line, by sex, age, employment status, and geographical location.
- Indicator 3.8.1: Coverage of essential health services (defined as the average coverage of essential services based on tracer interventions that include reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, and service capacity and access).
- Indicator 4.7.1: Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment.
- Indicator 5.5.1: Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments.
- Indicator 8.3.1: Proportion of informal employment in non-agriculture employment, by sex.
- Indicator 10.2.1: Proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income, by age, sex, and persons with disabilities.
- Indicator 16.6.1: Primary government expenditures as a proportion of original approved budget, by sector (or by budget codes or similar).
- Indicator 17.9.1: Dollar value of all resources made available to strengthen statistical capacity in developing countries.
Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators
| SDGs | Targets | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| SDG 1: No Poverty | Target 1.1: By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere. | Indicator 1.1.1: Proportion of population below the international poverty line, by sex, age, employment status, and geographical location. |
| SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being | Target 3.8: Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services, and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. | Indicator 3.8.1: Coverage of essential health services (defined as the average coverage of essential services based on tracer interventions that include reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, and service capacity and access). |
| SDG 4: Quality Education | Target 4.7: By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development. | Indicator 4.7.1: Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment. |
| SDG 5: Gender Equality | Target 5.5: Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life. | Indicator 5.5.1: Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments. |
| SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | Target 8.3: Promote
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