Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who failed twice last week to advance the bill to the floor, finally locked down enough Republican votes to pass the bill after the House stripped $300 million to arm Ukraine from the text.

The separate bill carved out to allocate those funds for Kyiv passed Thursday in a 311-117 blowout bipartisan vote. Republicans had won a close procedural vote earlier in the day to separate the Ukraine money from the Pentagon bill, a move meant to flip a handful of GOP holdouts.

The decision to create a separate bill for Ukraine marked a major U-turn after most Republicans helped defeat an identical proposal just a day earlier to remove those funds from the Pentagon bill.

While the about-face ultimately helped both bills pass, it also drew recriminations from Democrats, who warned the move could be portrayed by the Kremlin as Congress abandoning Ukraine.

“The Russians are good at propaganda,” said House Armed Services ranking Democrat Adam Smith. “It will be played as America backing off of its commitment for Ukraine.”

Ukraine aid has become politically contentious in the GOP conference and is opposed by many lawmakers on McCarthy’s right flank.

Republicans downplayed the maneuver to create separate legislation for Ukraine. House Rules Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) argued the move would allow opponents of either measure — Ukraine aid or the defense bill — to voice their opinions on each independently.

“Why don’t we make sure this gets through? I mean, I’m just mystified that this is somehow a problem,” Cole told Democrats ahead of the vote. “We guarantee you something you want is going to pass the House and you’re upset about it.”

The exclusion of Ukraine aid was far from Democrats’ only gripe with the defense legislation. They also opposed the bill over a variety of culture war provisions tacked on by Republicans to appeal to conservatives.

The legislation would block funding to carry out the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy. It also includes limits on medical care for transgender troops, diversity programs and efforts to combat climate change.

Republicans added even more contentious proposals this week, including amendments to reduce the salaries of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other Pentagon leaders to $1.

The bill stands no chance in the Democratic-led Senate. President Joe Biden has also threatened a veto if it reaches his desk.

Culture wars aren’t the only sticking points.

The legislation takes a scalpel to the Pentagon’s first-ever request to buy missiles over multiple years to ramp up production. House appropriators argued the Pentagon didn’t show its work to justify the ambitious plan and granted only multiyear procurement authority to five missiles while rejecting another two.

The bill also slashes $1.1 billion from Biden’s request for the civilian defense workforce, a move Democrats argue wouldn’t save money and instead would shift work to contractors. It includes a significant hike in junior enlisted military personnel pay, which the Biden administration opposes due to the cost.

Ultimately, the House GOP maneuvering to pass the defense bill won’t prevent a shutdown this weekend. And there’s no deal in sight with just three days to find a way to keep the lights on.

“Calling Republican leadership a clown show is doing a disservice to actual working clowns,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Rules Committee Democrat.