Democracy Dies in Darkness

House Republican infighting getting worse after foreign aid vote

One GOP lawmaker said he serves with ‘some real scumbags,’ while others fought over Speaker Mike Johnson’s strategy for bringing up the aid package

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April 22, 2024 at 2:46 p.m. EDT
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) talks to the media at the Capitol this month. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
6 min

The House came together Saturday to pass a sweeping $95 billion foreign aid package, a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation in the closely divided chamber. But the move only intensified infighting among House Republicans, who split sharply on the strategy to deliver assistance to foreign allies including Ukraine and Israel.

In social media posts and TV interviews afterward, House Republicans took aim at one another — in unusually sharp terms — over the events that led up to the vote. Ultimately, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had to rely on a majority of Democrats to push through the most controversial piece of the package — $60 billion in aid to Ukraine for its war against Russia — in a gamble that could cost him his speakership.