US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he intended to introduce a wartime aid bill for Israel this week following Iran's attack over the weekend, but did not specify whether funding for Ukraine would be part of the package.
US aid to the two countries has been delayed amid political wrangling in Congress, with Johnson - an ally of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump - blocking President Joe Biden's earlier request of $95 billion in aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan , which was passed by the Senate.
"House Republicans and the GOP understand the need to stand behind Israel. We're going to try again this week and the details of that package are being put together right now," Johnson said on Fox's "Sunday Morning Futures."
"We are looking at options on all of these additional issues."
Johnson is walking a razor's edge on aid to Ukraine as Trump and far-right lawmakers in the House of Representatives are skeptical of pouring billions of dollars into Kiev's fight against invading Russian forces.
The speaker met with Trump in Florida. On April 14, he told Fox that he was considering structuring the aid to Ukraine as a loan, as Trump has proposed and for which Johnson said "I think there's a lot of consensus."
Meanwhile, Biden sat down with congressional leaders, including Johnson, to discuss the "urgent need" for the House to approve the bipartisan aid package passed by the Senate.
"During the call, the president discussed the urgent need for the House of Representatives to pass the national security supplemental package as soon as possible," the White House said in a statement.
Several House conservatives have said they want tougher US immigration policies to be added to any security aid package.
"I, for one, am willing to help Ukraine, but I want to see how we're going to deal with the southern border," Senator Marco Rubio told CNN, adding: "This is very important: "If the Senate sends the House a stand-alone aid to Israel on Monday, the House will accept it"./BGNES
