Democrat President Joe Biden is pressuring House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to “move quickly” and unblock foreign aid to Ukraine amid growing pushback from Republicans.
However, the move could potentially put Johnson’s job at risk by crossing a red line for House Republicans who accuse him of failing to put “America First.”
Biden spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Johnson “has to move quickly” as he stares down a threat of removal from pro-Trump hardliner Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
Republican voters, and a vocal minority of GOP lawmakers, have objected to continued support for Ukraine without a solution to the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Greene has threatened to trigger a “motion to vacate” if Johnson moves to support Ukraine.
A second Republican, isolationist Thomas Massie (R-KY), also joined Greene’s push on Tuesday.
But Johnson’s narrow Republican majority has given Democrats leverage to squeeze him for concessions.
They are offering tentatively to help him keep his job if he unlocks foreign aid money.
Nevertheless, despite mounting pressure from the GOP, Johnson announced Wednesday he is sticking with his plan to put a series of foreign aid bills on the floor, including funding for Ukraine.
Johnson said in a note to members that they will vote on the bills on Saturday evening.
“After significant Member feedback and discussion, the House Rules Committee will be posting soon today the text of three bills that will fund America’s national security interests and allies in Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and Ukraine, including a loan structure for aid, and enhanced strategy and accountability,” Johnson said in the note.
Johnson has reportedly split up a $95 billion foreign aid bill into separate pieces for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel.
The White House has pushed for a single bill bundling those priorities together.
However, top spokesman John Kirby sounded cautiously supportive of Johnson’s idea on Tuesday.
“It does appear at first blush that the Speaker’s proposal will in fact help us get aid to Ukraine, aid to Israel, and needed resources to the Indo-Pacific for a wide range of contingencies there.
“At first blush, it looks like that, we just want to get more details,” he added.
Johnson’s plan untethers foreign aid from border security, a reversal after Johnson spent months tying the two issues together.
While Greene has blasted Johnson as a sellout, he has accused Greene of hurting the GOP and President Trump’s electoral prospects by dividing the party.
“I am not resigning,” Johnson said Tuesday.
“And it is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to do our jobs.”
Johnson did not share the details of his foreign aid plan with President Trump when they met at Mar-A-Lago last week in a show of unity, ABC reported.
As a result, Trump’s team was blindsided when Johnson claimed they were “100%” on the same page in a Fox News interview Sunday.
Johnson’s team later said that the speaker and Trump are not “fully aligned on … every piece of any legislation.”
The speaker has been facing mounting pressure to make tweaks to the foreign aid package proposed earlier this week – and not just from his most right-wing members.
While conservative House Freedom Caucus members have been sounding the alarm on border security and the foreign aid bills since Tuesday’s caucus meeting, the shouts have now spilled into the rank and file.
On Wednesday, moderate Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) told the speaker to “go back to Biden & Schumer and tell them he needs a border security measure to pass foreign aid.”
Johnson said in his letter to members that he will bring forward an immigration bill that looks like the House’s HR 2.
