House lawmakers are trying to dial up the pressure on Mike Johnson for Ukraine aid. Here's how.

WASHINGTON – House lawmakers are trying to dial up the pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to advance additional aid to Ukraine and other foreign assistance, addressing what they describe as a national and global security threat.

But as aid to Ukraine and other American allies has stalled in Congress, a handful of House members have offered multiple alternatives with seemingly little consensus on which approach is best. Johnson has also kept his cards close to his chest about how he plans to address foreign aid, saying instead his focus is on government funding.

“It’s no secret that we’re in a period of gridlock,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said at a press conference on Wednesday morning. “This is literally U.S. domestic security and world peace on the line here.”

Fitzpatrick, along with a small group of centrist Republicans and Democrats, have introduced an emergency spending deal that would provide military aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. It would also tie the assistance to changes in immigration policy aimed at the crisis on the southern border.

Their proposal, Fitzpatrick and his centrist colleagues argue, is the only bill that has a chance of garnering the bipartisan support needed to pass in a fractured, slow-moving Congress.

The hope, Fitzpatrick said, is for the bill to be put on the House floor through the chamber's normal course of action. But the Pennsylvania lawmaker has threatened to use an archaic House procedure – called a discharge petition – to force a vote.

The discharge petition is intended to be a “pressure point,” as Fitzpatrick put it Wednesday, to goad leaders into putting Ukraine aid on the House floor. If a discharge petition earns 218 signatures – a majority of the House – it would expedite a bill even if leaders don't want a vote.

For such an effort to succeed would be akin to Johnson losing control of the House floor, despite being the lower chamber’s highest ranking official. But Fitzpatrick says he doesn't want to undermine Johnson's speakership, and his preference is for the legislation to go through the House's regular order.

Dueling efforts for Ukraine, foreign aid

It’s also unclear whether the bipartisan proposal could pick up the 218 signatures necessary to put the bill on the floor. The legislation noticeably omits humanitarian assistance for Gaza in its portion of assistance for Israel, something an increasing number of Democrats have insisted be included in any foreign aid package.

“I find the absence of humanitarian assistance to be quite frankly, cruel and offensive,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told reporters.

Fitzpatrick and his centrist colleagues have promised to have an “open amendment process” for members to propose changes to their bill, such as including humanitarian assistance. McGovern, however, dismissed the process and said Fitzpatrick’s discharge petition would not allow for lawmakers to amend the bill.

Fitzpatrick, for his part, pushed back on McGovern’s claim, saying that prior to the bill going up for a vote in the House, any successful amendments to it would be “pre-baked” into the final product.

McGovern has filed his own dueling discharge petition on behalf of House Democrats to serve as a vehicle for a much broader foreign aid bill. The push doesn't include the border and migrant policy changes that the Senate included in its bill last month.

Democrats have repeatedly called on Johnson to put the Senate's bipartisan bill up for a vote, but the speaker has refused to do so due to the lack of border and migrant provisions – despite rejecting another earlier proposal from the Senate that had exactly that.

McGovern has said the only absolutely certain way for foreign aid to see a vote on the House floor is for Johnson to schedule it himself. The Massachusetts Democrat called on Johnson to stop “bringing garbage to the floor (and) stuff that’s going nowhere.”

Republican chair says he can guarantee Congress will pass Ukraine aid

While both Republicans and Democrats eye backdoors for an overseas assistance spending agreement, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told reporters on Wednesday morning he “thinks” Johnson has committed to putting a foreign aid bill on the House floor after Congress finishes its work funding the government.

McCaul said he is working on his own package that would also include aid to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific since all “three threats are intertwined.” He added he plans to include humanitarian assistance in his bill, which could entice Democrats to support it.

One of Ukraine’s most vocal supporters on Capitol Hill, McCaul said he could guarantee Congress will pass additional U.S. assistance for the embattled nation in the near future.

But it’s still unclear what any future package will entail and whether it will garner the support needed to clear the House.

If lawmakers calling for additional U.S. aid feel their hand is forced, Fitzpatrick said he was “very confident” he could collect the 218 signatures needed to force his bill to the floor.

“It’s an indefensible position if nothing else is coming to the floor to do nothing,” he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House lawmakers pressure Mike Johnson to put up Ukraine aid for a vote