Congress returns to Washington on Tuesday to tackle lingering issues and new challenges, including aid for Ukraine, a Senate impeachment trial, reworking the government’s spying powers and starting work belatedly on federal funding for fiscal 2025.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, will have to navigate a House GOP that is divided on how to move forward with many of those issues, all while having a historically slim majority that is set to shrink to one vote later in April.
Lawmakers will have only 10 working days in April, adding to the pressure of knocking out their work ahead of a summer littered with breaks to campaign for Election Day in November.
Mr. Johnson has signaled that he will first tackle foreign aid, which has proved a divisive topic among House Republicans. The speaker plans to provide billions in military aid to the war-beleaguered country in the form of a loan, an idea that has proved popular among Republicans in Congress.
“We’re not just giving foreign aid, we’re setting it up in a relationship where they can provide it back to us when the time is right,” Mr. Johnson said.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, who has continued to pressure Mr. Johnson to put the Senate’s $95 billion aid package up for a vote in the House, said in a letter to colleagues on Friday that he believed Mr. Johnson understood the “threat of delaying” aid to Ukraine.
“However, Speaker Johnson has to ultimately decide for himself whether or not he will do the right thing for Ukraine, for America and for democracy around the world,” Mr. Schumer said. “Or if he’ll allow the extreme MAGA wing of his party to hand [Russian President] Vladimir Putin a victory.”
House Republicans will also deliver the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, expects that Mr. Schumer will look to snuff out the trial swiftly.
“The Democrats have a majority, so it may not go on very long,” Mr. McConnell told the Kentucky Lantern last week. “But my preference would be to actually have a trial. But I think the majority is likely to prevent that.”
The House will also look to finish work on reauthorizing the government’s spying powers in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Section 702 — a divisive issue that has led to Republicans and Democrats working together to push their own versions of legislation to rework the policy. If Congress fails to act, the provisions will expire on April 19.
Lawmakers will also continue working on the fiscal 2025 spending cycle, which has been delayed for six months by the previous spending fight. Many expect this fiscal go-round to end roughly the same as the current year’s funding, largely because of the time crunch of completing work by the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year, and because of the election in November.
But first, House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger, Texas Republican, is stepping down and must be replaced. Rep. Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican, is the favorite to take over the post.
Compounding the difficulty of the road ahead is a threat by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, to oust Mr. Johnson from the speakership. While Ms. Greene has not tried to force a vote on the motion to vacate the chair yet, she could trigger a vote depending on how the speaker handles the weeks ahead.