US House members defy leadership, to force vote on Ukraine aid
By Patricia Zengerle
House Petition Reaches Threshold to Force Ukraine Aid Vote
WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives petition to force a floor vote on providing security aid to Ukraine and imposing new sanctions on Russia reached the 218-signature threshold to move ahead on Wednesday, the latest successful bid by lawmakers to defy the chamber's Republican leadership.
Key Lawmakers and Political Shifts
California Representative Kevin Kiley, who switched his party affiliation to independent from Republican in March, signed the "discharge petition" on Wednesday, giving it enough signatures to force a vote in the House, likely in early June.
While many members of Congress from both parties have strongly supported Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, some of President Donald Trump's closest Republican allies - including House and Senate leadership - have grown cooler since he returned to the White House in January 2025.
Impact on U.S. Aid and Peace Talks
U.S. aid to the Kyiv government has slowed sharply even as Russia and Ukraine have been pummelling each other with missiles, drones and artillery, with no end to the war in sight. Peace talks are stalled, with Ukraine rejecting Putin's demand that it surrender territory it has successfully defended since 2022.
Understanding the Discharge Petition
A discharge petition allows 218 or more representatives to force House votes, even if the legislation is opposed by Republican Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who sets the agenda in the chamber.
Two Republican House members, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Don Bacon of Nebraska, had signed the petition in the weeks before Kiley did so on Wednesday.
Details of the Ukraine Support Act
Introduced in April 2025 by Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Ukraine Support Act is divided into three sections.
Section 1: Support for Ukraine and NATO
The first affirms support for Ukraine and NATO and includes measures to help Ukraine rebuild, including creating the position of a special coordinator for Ukraine reconstruction.
Section 2: Financial Assistance for Kyiv
The second would authorize more than $1 billion in assistance for Kyiv and up to $8 billion more in support via direct loans, and the third would impose stiff sanctions and export controls on Russia, including on financial institutions, oil and mining and Russian officials.
Section 3: Sanctions on Russia
"We look forward to seeing the House pass this bill quickly and encourage the Senate to take it up without delay. The brave men and women of Ukraine are waiting," Meeks and some of the bill's other backers said in a joint statement.
Senate Prospects and Political Dynamics
The measure's fate in the Senate is uncertain, even if it does pass the House. A bill introduced by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina that would impose sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil, gas and uranium has languished in that chamber for months, with leadership saying they will wait for guidance from Trump before bringing it up for a vote.
Trump has kept decisions on sanctions at the White House, not Congress, since starting his second term in January 2025.
Recent Use of Discharge Petitions
Discharge petitions were once a rarely used procedural tool in the House. But recently they have been more successful, with Johnson's Republicans holding a narrow House majority - currently 217 Republicans, 212 Democrats, one independent and five vacancies.
Other Notable Discharge Petitions
In April, the House voted to extend temporary protections for 350,000 Haitians living in the U.S. after a successful discharge petition. Last year, enough House members signed a discharge petition to force a vote directing the Justice Department to release files related to deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Editing by Nick Zieminski)
