Mike Johnson sets Saturday vote on Ukraine aid as House Republican foes threaten to oust him
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he plans to break through a high-stakes impasse on Ukraine aid with a Saturday night vote — as opponents of new funding for Kyiv threaten to oust him in protest.
The $95 billion package includes $60.84 billion in funding to assist Ukraine against Russia, along with $26.38 billion for Israel and $8.12 billion for countering China, about half of which would be for Taiwan.
“I’m a child of the ’80s. I regard myself as a Reagan Republican. I understand the concept of maintaining peace through strength,” Johnson (R-La.) said in a Wednesday interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“We’re not going to get 100% of what we want right now because we have the smallest majority in history and we only have the majority in one chamber,” Johnson said.
“But we got a great product here at the end, much better than the alternative that came in the Senate supplemental. And now everybody gets to vote their conscience, up or down.”
Johnson unveiled the spending plan — which is roughly the same size as an aid package that passed the Senate in February — in a message to Republicans that said the Ukraine funds include “a loan structure for aid, and enhanced strategy and accountability,” in apparent concessions to skeptics like former President Donald Trump.
The House speaker also said the package will be considered along with bills to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction with seized Russian assets and opposing TIkTok, the app that the House voted in March to require divestment from its Chinese owner, though the Senate has yet to follow suit.
Johnson said the House also will vote Saturday on “a border security bill that includes the core components of H.R.2, under a separate rule that will allow for amendments” — reflecting a more loose pairing than what Johnson and other Republicans had long sought between Ukraine and US-Mexico border funds.
“By posting text of these bills as soon as they are completed, we will ensure time for a robust amendment process. We expect the vote on final passage on these bills to be on Saturday evening,” Johnson informed colleagues.
President Biden quickly endorsed the Johnson-backed aid package.
“I strongly support this package to get critical support to Israel and Ukraine, provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, and bolster security and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” Biden said in a statement.
“The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow. I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends, and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed.”
The precise path forward for the foreign aid bills was not immediately clear as the House Rules Committee prepared to hash out the framework for floor proceedings.
Earlier reporting indicated that House leaders would seek to bundle the three separate aid bills into one final vote, which would increase pressure on Republicans to vote in favor.
Within the Ukraine package, about $23.2 billion would replenish US stocks of weapons that the Biden administration already sent to Ukraine, $11.3 billion would support “US military operations in the region” and $13.8 billion would go toward “the procurement of advanced weapons systems, defense articles and defense services,” the fact sheet from the Rules Committee said.
Another $26 million would be appropriated for “oversight and accountability of aid and equipment provided to Ukraine.”
The legislation also authorizes $1.6 billion in US loans and loan guarantees for military financing to “Ukraine and countries impacted by the situation in Ukraine.”
Johnson told CNN that the House version of the aid package is different from the Senate-passed version because “we changed it — 80% of the spending for Ukraine is replenishment of American weapons and stocks” and that for Ukraine “any assistance that goes for governmental aid is converted into a loan.”
The Israel aid component is nearly double the $14 billion that the Senate approved in February.
Johnson’s supporters described the aid package and related Saturday votes as a win for conservatives — despite intra-party unease — with one source estimating that 68% of the overall $95 billion would flow to domestic arms manufacturers.
“What the group pushing his removal want is for the speaker to pick winners and losers, and for Republicans to do nothing but messaging while the world burns,” a senior House GOP staffer told The Post.
Ahead of unveiling the plans, Johnson visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., last week to discuss Ukraine and other issues with the 45th president.
Trump told the press afterward that he supports Johnson against threats by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to attempt to oust him via a motion to vacate in protest of Ukraine aid advancing.
Libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said Tuesday he would be willing to cosponsor Greene’s motion.
The Senate’s $95 billion foreign aid package included about $60 billion for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s two-year-old invasion — on top of $113 billion appropriated earlier in the conflict.
Republican skeptics have argued there’s a need for greater oversight of spending in the notoriously corrupt Eastern European country and have urged a greater focus on resolving the conflict with a peace deal, which Trump has vowed to personally broker if he wins the Nov. 5 election.
Johnson himself has expressed qualms about the source of funding for Ukraine — floating using seized Russian funds for the actual conflict, rather than merely reconstruction — and has objected to what he says is a lack of clear White House objectives in the conflict.
Republicans have a narrow 218-213 House majority, meaning only a small handful of dissenters can doom Johnson if Democrats also vote to oust him — as happened in October when eight Republicans joined all Democrats to remove then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Johnson is believed to have fewer personal enemies than McCarthy among fellow Republicans and has survived earlier blowback over policy.
The speaker got a boost Wednesday when Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who had been due to leave office Friday, expressed willingness to stick around an extra day and help the aid package pass.
It is possible that Democrats — who for months have clamored for Ukraine aid — would either support Johnson against a motion to vacate or sit out the vote, which would insulate the speaker from Republican critics.
