House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday announced he was forging ahead with his plan to put aid to Israel and Ukraine on the floor for a vote despite backlash from members of his Republican conference.
Johnson late Wednesday released the text of a multi-stage proposal to provide aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan in separate bills, and is preparing a fourth measure that could include a forced sale or ban of TikTok, a mechanism to sieze Russian assets to provide aid to Kyiv and punish Iran for its recent attack on Israel.
In an effort to satisfy far-right members of his conference, Johnson pledged to put forth a bill that will include “core components” of a House-passed border security package that was championed by Republicans but rejected in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Johnson said that the House will vote on the bills on Saturday night. Republicans have a razor-thin majority in the chamber, meaning that they will likely need to rely on Democrats in order to pass the national security bills.
Potentially bolstering the bill’s chances of passage: Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, who was set to resign from the House on Friday, further narrowing the GOP’s majority, “has the flexibility to stay and support the aid package on Saturday,” according to a spokesperson for his office.
But backlash against Johnson’s plan was swift among conservatives, putting him on a collision course with the far-right flank of his conference amid a push to remove him from his leadership role.
“There is no other way to describe it: it is surrender,” Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz told CNN on Wednesday. “It is disappointing. I won’t support it.”
“It’s disappointing,” Arizona Rep. Eli Crane told the outlet. “It’s completely detached from what our base wants, what our voters want.”
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the GOP lawmakers leading the push to oust Johnson from his leadership role, called Johnson “seriously out of step with Republicans by continuing to pass bills dependent on Democrats.”
The criticism wasn’t just limited to members of the House: Republican lawmakers in the Senate offered their condemnation as well.
“Speaker Johnson and the Uniparty are united behind their laundry list of bad ideas,” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said on social media. “From borrowing $95 billion from China to send it to other countries to killing a FISA warrant requirement — they’re ticking all the boxes to put America last.”
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance called the plan a “betrayal” and “stupid politics to boot” in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Make the Democrats vote on Israel, and piss off one of their constituencies,” he wrote. “Make the Democrats vote for Biden’s open border or not. Or fight for real border security. This is the ‘give Dems everything they want including political cover’ option. Just completely insane.”
During a press conference Wednesday, Johnson told reporters that he wasn’t afraid to do what he felt was right to help Ukraine push back against Russian invasion — if only because it might help prevent America from entering the fight.
“To put it bluntly, I’d rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys,” he said, adding that his son will soon be starting at the U.S. Naval Academy. “This is a live-fire exercise for me, as it is for so many American families.”
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper Wednesday afternoon, Johnson laid bare the reality of his situation: the Democrats hold the Senate and the White House, while the GOP holds the House of Representatives by a sliver. Compromise, then, is the name of the game.
“We are 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 that Republicans run: the House,” Johnson said. “By definition, we won’t get everything we want — but we’ve got a great product here in the end, much better than the alternative that came in the Senate supplemental. And now everyone gets to vote their conscience, up or down.”
Johnson told Tapper that he hasn’t asked Democrats either for support of the bill or to help him keep his job. Rather, he’s confident that support of the biggest name in the Republican Party will help him.
“I think he clearly understands why we’re running this play and why we need to do this,” Johnson said, adding that the bill “sets up the next administration” and will offer the winner of the November election a strong foundation for negotiating peace — though he adds that he’s certain Trump will be that winner, and that negotiator.
President Joe Biden issued a statement on Wednesday in support of the GOP speaker’s plan.
“The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow,” the president said. “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.”
Spectrum News’ Cassie Semyon and David Mendez contributed to this report.
Justin Tasolides
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