Few things in Washington are ever easy. That was certainly true for foreign aid for Ukraine and Israel.

After months of debate and political gamesmanship, a bipartisan majority in the House passed four bills worth 95 billion dollars over the weekend.

The Senate is expected to vote this week.

But the turmoil has put Speaker Mike Johnson in the hot seat with some Republicans.

For the political stakes, we are joined tonight

by Tamra Keith of NPR and Andrew Desiderio

of Punch Bowl News.

Amy Walter is away.

It's great to see you both.

So after much delay in GOP infighting, the House passed the Foreign Aid Bill on Saturday.

Lots of money for Israel, Taiwan, $61 billion for Ukraine.

Andrew, how did Speaker Johnson come to embrace

aid for Ukraine and defy his right flank? How did he get to yes? It's quite the 180

that he exhibited over the last year or so. This was a guy who embedded himself with the

Republican Study Committee, the Freedom Caucus throughout his entire tenure

in the House of Representatives, voted consistently against every single

Ukrainian package that came up since the start of the war in 2022,

yet is now putting his speakership on the line over this issue.

He's credited a couple of things with this sort of transformation, excuse me, if you will.

The first is the fact that he's receiving high-level intelligence briefings that he didn't

receive as a rank and file member of the House of

Representatives when you're the speaker you're part of what's called the gang of

...