House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., reportedly is assembling a substantially different Ukraine aid package than the Senate's $95 billion version that mirrors a strategy suggested by former President Donald Trump.
The Hill reported that Johnson floated the idea of making the aid a loan or lend-lease program so taxpayers wouldn't finance it without any expectation of a return.
Johnson's plan came during a question-and-answer session at the Library of Congress during the annual Senate Republican retreat.
According to The Hill, the strategy was described as similar to the REPO for Ukrainians Act, sponsored by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, which would authorize the confiscation of Russian sovereign assets, and the deposit of the proceeds of liquidated property into a Ukraine support fund.
Johnson didn't say if such a package would include border security reforms that would face opposition from Senate Democrats, The Hill noted.
Johnson's plan came a day after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pressed for the Senate-passed package funding Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan to be brought to the House floor, The Hill reported.
"I did get the sense that after the appropriations bills were taken care of that they would turn to that, and there have been a number of suggestions," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told The Hill. "One has to do with the forfeiture, basically, of $300 billion in Russian assets, which I think is a great idea."
"It would be justice to make the Russians to pay for Ukraine, pay the United States and allies for arming Ukraine," Cornyn added, saying, "That's what FDR did in World War II" — referring to a lend-lease program that President Franklin Roosevelt signed in 1941 to arm Britain and other allies against Nazi Germany.
"I've heard the Speaker now say, 'We're not going to leave Ukraine empty-handed,' or words to that effect."
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who also was at the meeting, told The Hill that Johnson was "pretty clear" about his intent to help Ukraine with a lend-lease program and seizure of Russian assets to pay for the Ukraine support fund.
"I thought it was very hopeful," Cramer said, noting that he and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., worked with the House on a bill "that would probably include President Trump's idea of some sort of lend-lease program."
"To me it's the exact way to go about finding a solution that maybe isn't unanimous but at least everybody can get on board with," Cramer told The Hill.
Graham agreed.
"I think it's an elegant solution, particularly with the REPO Act, where you can take oligarch assets," he told The Hill. "I think that is a sweet spot, because if you're for helping Ukraine, are you really going to say no to a loan?"
Trump began pushing the idea of sending aid to Ukraine in the form of a loan last month when he tried to persuade GOP senators to vote against the Senate's Ukraine funding bill.
"Loan them the money. If they can make it, they pay us back. If they can't make it, they don't have to pay us back," Trump said at a rally in North Charleston, S.C., The Hill reported.
Some Republican senators are skeptical of the loan idea.
"I'll consider any option that's put out there. I think a loan would impose a further burden on Ukraine right now at a time when they don't need it, but if that's what it takes to get aid through, I'd be willing to consider," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.