Pro-Ukraine Group Pushes Progressives To Help Get Aid Bill To House Floor

A pro-Ukraine group is publicly calling on progressive House Democrats to help get the Senate bill with aid for the embattled country to a vote in the House, provocatively comparing them to the famously obstructionist House Freedom Caucus in the process.

With aid stalled by House Republicans and the GOP’s presumptive presidential candidate increasingly public with his antipathy toward Ukraine, a so-called discharge petition signed by the majority of House members could end up being the last hope for advancing a bipartisan Senate bill that would provide about $60 billion in needed weapons and economic aid.

Many progressive Democrats, however, have resisted signing on because the package also includes $14 billion in aid to Israel, a country at least some of them believe is waging a campaign of genocide in Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of civilians. Roughly 30,000 Palestinians have died in Israel attacks since the war’s start, and the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave is dire.

“We recognize that there are Democrats who have expressed reservations about non-Ukraine elements of this package, but we urge them to sign this petition to stand with the Ukrainian people and help get the bill to a vote,” said Scott Cullinane, director of government affairs with Razom for Ukraine, in a statement obtained by HuffPost.

“We urge these members of Congress to do the right thing and join us in the fight. There is nothing progressive about consigning 42 million Ukrainians to Russian abuse and the horrors of military occupation.”

Since Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February 2022, more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, and between 30,000 and 70,000 members of the country’s military have died, with Ukrainians