A Republican group is spending six-figures on an ad campaign urging GOP members of the House to support a discharge petition to force the bipartisan foreign aid bill to the House floor for a vote.
The group, Republicans for Ukraine, said the campaign will target 10 House Republicans they believe would most likely sign a discharge petition. They include Mike Gallagher (Wis.), Ken Buck (Colo.), Mike McCaul (Texas), Mike Rogers (Ala.), Mike Turner (Ohio), Don Bacon (Neb.), Steve Womack (Ark.), Jake Ellzey (Texas), Brian Fitzpatrick (Penn.) and Dan Crenshaw (Texas).
“For generations, the Republican Party prided itself on standing up to dictators and leading the free world. Many Republicans, including many in Congress, still identify with that party and that role for America. Right now the critical issue in the world is whether free countries will help defeat Putin in Ukraine,” the group’s spokesperson Gunner Ramer said in a statement to Newsweek.
“Republicans have a chance to make history,” Ramer said, adding that the 10 members they’re targeting “have been leaders on Ukraine and American national security in the past, and it’s time for them to be leaders again.”
The Senate passed a $95.3 billion foreign aid bill with assistance for Ukraine and Israel earlier this month. But House Republican leadership have been reluctant to commit to bringing the measure to the floor for a vote.
House Democrats are also weighing forcing a vote on the bill through a discharge petition.
A discharge petition would require the support of 218 lawmakers in the House including at least four Republicans if every Democrat supports it. If successful, it could allow the foreign aid package to go to the floor for a vote, where supporters of the measure are confident it will pass.
