Greene a ‘hard no’ on two spending bills after McCarthy flips on Ukraine aid 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Sunday she is a “hard no” on two spending bills after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Ukraine aid would be included in the legislation despite opposition from the Georgia Republican. 

McCarthy said Saturday that he will keep Ukraine aid in the Pentagon funding bill, a reversal from his announcement a day earlier that he would strip the money out after Greene joined conservatives last week in blocking the legislation from advancing. 

Greene responded to that decision in a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, complaining that House leadership had broken its promise by preparing to move an appropriations bill with Ukraine funding in the House Rules Committee.

“The rule is the first step of advancing this blood money in Congress,” she wrote.

“Unfortunately it looks like some of the House’s strongest conservatives are going to vote for the rule to help along..the ‘process.’ Voting yes on the rule means more money for Ukraine. It’s that simple. No one who wants peace should vote yes on the rule to advance the bills. That’s why I’m a HARD NO on the rules package and a blank check for Ukraine!” 

McCarthy said he decided to include the $300 million of Ukraine aid after recognizing another spending measure set to come up this week — one that funds the State Department and foreign operations — also includes money for the embattled country. The Speaker argued eliminating the Ukraine aid out of the State Department measure “becomes more difficult to do.” 

GOP leaders pulled a planned vote on a short-term stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution, last week amid conservative opposition in the narrow GOP majority. Government funding will run out at the end of the month unless a stopgap measure is passed this week.

Republicans are also working to pass individual spending bills, including the defense and foreign operations measures, in the hopes that progress on those measures will build enough goodwill with conservative holdouts to make another attempt at a short-term funding bill. 

Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) told The Hill that the House may vote on amendments to strike the Ukraine aid from the Pentagon and State Department spending bills.

Greene’s stance will not be a shock to McCarthy, who told reporters over the weekend he expects her to oppose the procedural vote on the four bills due to the Ukraine funding. 

Last week, a group of House conservatives went against the GOP majority and twice blocked the Pentagon funding bill from moving forward to debate and a vote on the House floor.