By Kaanita Iyer, Shania Shelton and Isabelle D'Antonio, CNN
From CNN’s Morgan Rimmer
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took procedural steps Saturday for the Senate to begin voting on the House-passed foreign aid package Tuesday afternoon.
The chamber was supposed to be in recess next week, but it is coming back to pass this legislation.
From CNN's Michelle Shen
As members of Congress streamed out of the Capitol after passing an aid bill to Israel, a crowd of protesters with loudspeakers shouted, "Congress, Congress you can't hide, we charge you with genocide!"
The bill also includes aid to Gaza, but the protesters represent the divisive nature of providing support to Israel amid the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
Marione Ingram, 88, and her husband, Daniel Ingram, 93, were among the protesters. Marione is a survivor of the Holocaust and large-scale bombing operations in Germany during World War II.
"I am now reliving my childhood every time I see anything that's happening in Gaza. And for the last over six months, my husband and I and a few others have been at the White House every single day in the afternoon trying to get our government to stop fighting," she said.
Pro-Palestinian protesters have been resorting to ever-louder tactics – such as shutting down the Golden Gate Bridge during Monday’s morning commute – as they try to shake US support for Israel and draw attention to the crisis in Gaza, where more than 34,000 people have died since the war began, according to the Ministry of Health there.
From CNN's Lauren Fox and Alison Main
A number of lawmakers who backed the aid packages today said their views on House Speaker Mike Johnson as a leader changed after the speaker put bills on the floor despite a threat against his job.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said he thinks it was a transformative moment for Johnson as a leader, adding that the speaker's stock in the conference has gone up even as he faces the threat of an ouster from a minority of members.
“I have tremendous respect. ... He had a learning curve, but at the end of the day, he knew what the right thing to do was,” McCaul said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois was blunt when asked whether he had a new respect and view of the speaker than he did two weeks ago.
“I guess I do. The old adage is it’s never too late to do the right thing. We tested that,” Quigley said. “I think we build on this. ... We have a lot of challenges. It’s good news that today at a critical time, we did act cohesively as a legislature.”
GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said he always thought Johnson would get there but a turning point came when the speaker was briefed that passing Ukraine aid by April was essential.
“He’s always said he was for Ukraine, and I’ve always believed him,” Bacon said. “I think he just came to the conclusion we couldn’t wait any longer. He was briefed that we had to get this done in April or bad things were going to happen to Ukraine."
From CNN’s Kit Maher
Moments after the House passed four foreign aid bills totaling $95 billion, Speaker Mike Johnson said he had not spoken to Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about potentially saving his job if his hardline colleagues move to oust him.
“I don't walk around this building being worried about a motion to vacate,” Johnson said, referring to a procedural tool to remove the House speaker. “I have to do my job. ... I've done here what I believe to be the right thing to allow the House to work its will. And as I've said, you do the right thing, and you let the chips fall where they may.”
Walking toward his office, Johnson told reporters that he believes he will still be speaker in November and that he hasn’t spoken to any of his detractors Saturday.
Johnson said the “world is destabilized” and “a tinderbox,” stressing the importance of the bills’ passage in a “dangerous time.”
“Three of our primary adversaries, Russia, and Iran, and China, are working together and they're being aggressors around the globe,” Johnson said. “They're a global threat to our prosperity and our security. Their advance threatens the free world, and it demands American leadership. We turn our backs right now, the consequences could be devastating.”
From CNN's Priscilla Alvarez
The White House on Saturday clinched urgent foreign aid after a monthslong saga that involved starts and stops in Congress and was momentarily upended by one of the most politically vulnerable issues for President Joe Biden: border security.
The ask for additional aid to Ukraine, among other priorities, dates to October, when the White House put forward its national security supplemental funding request. Over the last several months, Biden has framed the need to provide additional funds to the war-torn country as a national security priority, warning that no ground should be ceded to Russia.
More recently, US officials attributed losses on the battlefield in Ukraine to the lack of additional assistance from the United States. In February, for example, the White House laid the blame for Ukraine’s withdrawal from the key town of Avdiivka squarely at the feet of Republicans in Congress.
Funding for Ukraine was also a recurring topic of discussion between Biden and global leaders as the US sought to reaffirm its leadership on the world stage — a theme echoed in the president’s statement Saturday.
“Today, members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage. At this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history’s call, passing urgently-needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure,” Biden said.
TikTok criticized the House's passage of a bill that could ban the app in the US.
"It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy, annually," a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement Saturday.
From CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg
President Joe Biden said in a statement Saturday that the House passage of foreign aid bills sends a “clear message” about America’s leadership to the globe.
“Today, members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage. At this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history’s call, passing urgently-needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure,” Biden said.
“I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs,” he added.
From CNN’s Tamar Michaelis in Jerusalem
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the US House for passing the Israel aid bill.
“The US Congress just overwhelmingly passed a much appreciated aid bill that demonstrates strong bipartisan support for Israel and defends Western civilization. Thank you friends, thank you America!” Netanyahu said on social media.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also thanked the House, saying he hopes the measure will pass in the US Senate soon “with strong bipartisan support.”
Posting on X, Katz said, “Thank you @SpeakerJohnson for your leadership which led the efforts to pass the Israel aid package in the House of Representatives today. And thank you Minority Leader @RepJeffries for supporting it.
The vote on the Israel aid package with an overwhelming bipartisan support proves the strong ties and strategic partnership between Israel and the U.S. and sends a strong message to our enemies.
I hope it passes the Senate soon with strong bipartisan support.”
From CNN’s Haley Talbot
The House has adjourned after passing a foreign aid package that now heads to the Senate.
House Speaker Mike Johnson's job is safe, for now, after Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she won’t move forward with her motion to vacate — a rarely used procedural tool to remove the House speaker — on Saturday. She said she wants her GOP colleagues to “go home and hear from their constituents.”
The House is not expected back until April 29 after a one-week recess.