Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, stressed the urgency of pressing their colleagues on Sunday to support their "pared-down" bipartisan measure for aid to Ukraine and border security, The Hill reported.
Aid to Kyiv "is time-sensitive; it's existential," Golden told CBS' "Face the Nation," explaining that "what our bill does is it combines border security with this foreign aid — both existential — and we are forcing this bill to the floor to make sure that everybody acts."
A bipartisan Senate bill that included border security reforms and aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan has been stuck in the House for weeks, with Democrats currently attempting a discharge petition to force a floor vote without the help of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., according to the Hill.
Golden said, however, that attempt is not likely to pass and emphasized that Ukraine needs the aid immediately.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said "they have weeks and not months to get reinforcements on the front-lines,” Golden stressed.
The proposal by Golden and Fitzpatrick lowers the spending from about $60 billion to $49 billion by cutting out humanitarian aid for Israel and Ukraine and adding the strict "Remain in Mexico" border policy, points that are all unpopular with most Democrats.
Golden explained to "Face The Nation" that "the Senate started with a bill. They had to boil it down to whatever could get 60 votes. The House needs to go through a very similar process. We need to find a way to get a deal that gets us to 218 [votes]. I think a deal like that has to grow out of the middle and is unlikely to begin with a one-party solution."
Fitzpatrick emphasized that "Ukraine is weeks away from giving up significant ground, and we cannot allow Russia to win. So what we are doing is adding an additional pressure point to get a bill to the floor that has bipartisan support in the House."
He added that from "my conversations with my Senate colleagues, any bill that comes out of the House with bipartisan support, in all likelihood, will emerge out of the Senate."