6 Republicans Defy GOP Leadership By Locking Arms With Democrats To Push For More Ukraine Funding

Six Republicans defied House leadership Wednesday by joining Democrats to vote in favor of advancing a bill that includes additional funding for Ukraine.

The House voted for a discharge petition in a 218-204 vote to advance the Ukraine Support Act, which would authorize $8 billion in direct loans to Ukraine and allow the U.S. to send Ukraine weapons from Pentagon stockpiles. Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Lawler of New York, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Michael McCaul of Texas, Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Max Miller of Ohio, voted in favor of the legislation.

The bill remained stalled for over a year as Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee refused to take it up, preventing lawmakers from debating and amending it. Every House Democrat, along with independent California Rep. Kevin Kiley, who caucuses with Republicans, voted in favor of the bill’s advancement.

Democratic New York Rep. Gregory Meeks introduced the legislation in April 2025, though House Speaker Mike Johnson never scheduled a vote on it. Meeks filed a discharge petition in July 2025, and spent almost a year collecting signatures. By May 13, the petition crossed the 218-vote threshold, which prompted Wednesday’s vote.

President Donald Trump, Johnson and other Republicans have repeatedly called for the Ukraine war to end, indicating that the legislation would be vetoed if it reached Trump’s desk. Trump framed U.S. support for Ukraine as a waste of money and has repeatedly called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war. Trump has signaled he did not want Congress interfering with his plans to negotiate with Putin.

A House Republican aide said the legislation was flawed. “Anyone voting for this is saying that NATO countries should be spending 2% of their GDP on national defense rather than 5%,” the aide told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “That is the exact opposite of aiding Ukraine.”

A source familiar with the legislation told the DCNF that Johnson argued against the discharge petition during a weekly closed-door House Republican conference meeting Wednesday and urged Republicans to vote against it.

The bill would expand restrictions on financial institutions that conduct business with Russian officials and state enterprises. It also would crack down on entities that help Russia evade existing sanctions, levy a 500% tariff on Russian imports and establish an Ukraine Reconstruction Trust Fund.

The legislation also provides $8 billion in military financing loans to Ukraine and extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) through 2027, which permits the U.S. to send weapons from Pentagon stockpiles directly to Ukraine.

The U.S. has allocated approximately $188 billion in funding and emergency support for Ukraine since the war began in February 2022.

The legislation would also sanction North Korea, Iran and Belarus for supporting Russian aggression.

Republican voters have consistently been more reluctant than Democrats to support sending aid to Ukraine. A Pew Research Center survey from Feb. 14, 2025, found that 47% of Republicans thought the U.S. was providing too much support, while only 14% of Democrats said the same. A plurality of Democrats, 35%, said the U.S. did not send enough aid.

An Associated Press/NORC poll found in 2024 that 55% of Republicans thought the U.S. sent “too much” aid, while 44% of Democrats believed the U.S. sent “too little.”

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