Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, said Thursday he plans to move forward with a discharge petition to force a foreign aid package for Ukraine to the House floor.
What some would call the petition an end-around on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Fitzpatrick called an "additional pressure point" Sunday on CBS News' "Face the Nation."
Regardless, if Fitzpatrick and his cohorts are able to secure 217 signatures, then a vote would be held to determine if it should come before the House floor for a vote. It first must sit in the House Rules Committee for seven days.
Fitzpatrick told reporters there's more Republican support in the House "than you think ... A lot of people know it's the right thing to do."
"We have to get something done," Fitzpatrick told reporters Thursday, according to the Washington Examiner. "It's existential; it's time sensitive. Whether that's our product or somebody else's, we just got to get the money out the door to them."
What's unclear is which Ukraine aid package Fitzpatrick would try to force to the floor. Axios reported Thursday that Fitzpatrick is deciding between the bipartisan $66 billion House bill he co-sponsored and the $95 billion Senate-passed bill.
Both are fraught with pitfalls. Fitzpatrick's Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act' likely won't get any Democrat support due to its "Remain in Mexico" asylum policy, while Johnson won't even bring the Senate package before the House floor over conservatives who have already vowed to file a motion to vacate if he does.
On Thursday, Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., head of the House Democratic Caucus, threw cold water on Fitzpatrick's discharge petition.
"I just don't think this is the solution that is in front of us," Aguilar told reporters, The Hill reported. "The solution is incredibly clear. It is the bipartisan solution that has 70 votes out of the United States Senate."
Fitzpatrick said Wednesday he's trying to kick-start movement.
"The politics are very, very tough, as you are well aware in the House: a two-vote margin in the House for Republicans, a two-vote Democrat margin in the Senate on very, very tough, existential, time-sensitive issues," he said. "So we're not trying to circumvent or end run anyone. Quite to the contrary. We're trying to put an additional pressure point on something that has to happen."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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