The Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson is planning draft legislation for Ukraine aid. This met with little approval among Republicans.
Washington, DC - A bill to provide additional U.S. aid to Ukraine could move a step closer to passage through the House of Representatives on Thursday - but it would need a strong push from Democrats, who would have to join Republicans to pass the bill .
And that action would likely prompt hard-liners among Republicans who strongly oppose Ukraine aid to make good on their threats and try to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from his leadership position .
“Democrats will not be responsible for this bill failing,” said Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, when asked Thursday whether the party would pass a procedural hurdle known as a rule. will help move the foreign aid package out of the House Rules Committee and into the Chamber.
Mike Johnson wants to pass five bills
Instead of the complex four-part plan that Johnson unveiled earlier this week, the speaker will now try to pass five bills - one each for aid to Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific allies, as well as a GOP wish list of foreign policy priorities and one fifth standalone bill that addresses widespread Republican demands to strengthen the southern US border. GOP leadership announced the House session would continue through Saturday to consider the bills.
Johnson relies on Democratic votes to make his plan a success, a tactic he has used several times during his roughly six months in office because Republicans do not want to get behind him. Republicans are just two votes short of passing anything, as they have a narrow majority that will shrink to one vote following the resignation of Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) this weekend.
Earlier in the week, allies of the speaker had tried to find a way forward without help from Democrats. No such avenue was found, and the Speaker decided to press ahead with his plan, knowing full well that it would likely end in a push for his removal.
All eyes are now on the Democrats in the House of Representatives.
New draft laws on aid to Ukraine are being planned
At their second caucus meeting this week, Democrats discussed Thursday morning how they could help Republicans pass the foreign aid bills that remain a priority for them and President Biden, who is behind the speaker's plan. However, Democratic caucus leaders did not commit, saying they want to wait and see what Republicans will do in a Rules Committee meeting. If Republicans introduce policy changes or measures that weaken the bill, so-called "poison pills," the minority party will not provide the votes when Johnson needs them, according to about a dozen Democrats familiar with the situation.
The foreign aid bills are closely modeled on a Senate package and, if passed by the House, would be sent to the Senate for a vote. Biden has said he will sign the measures as soon as they reach his desk. Democrats have been told that the Ukraine aid bill will first be voted on in the full House - a key requirement to win their support - to ensure its passage. They feared that Republicans would have less incentive to support funding for Ukraine if it were dealt with under the Israel bill.
It's unclear whether the fourth GOP bill — which includes legislation to regulate TikTok and allow the resale of confiscated Russian assets — will garner enough support to pass. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told Democrats the bill contains no poison pills, but he did not say whether lawmakers should support it.
Meanwhile, Republicans from the conservative Main Street Caucus, one of the GOP's five ideological groups, urged Johnson to punish members who block regular order and vote "no" on rules, several Republicans said at Wednesday's meeting.
Other forms of punishment for rebellious members included the expulsion of Roy, Norman and Massie from the Rules Committee. Her assignment to the committee was also a decision by then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to earn the speaker's gavel.
Discussion of impeachment bill
Republicans in attendance also discussed whether the number of members required to invoke a measure to remove the speaker, a so-called "eviction motion," should be increased, perhaps by including such language in the proposed legislation Foreign aid. Currently, any individual member can force such a vote, an agreement McCarthy made with right-wing Republicans to ensure he can become speaker. This request ultimately led to his historic resignation nine months later.
But changing the threshold for a motion to impeach, one Republican said, is "easier said than done." Many Republicans privately worry that making it harder to remove the speaker could antagonize their conference and jeopardize the foreign aid bill.
After backlash from Republicans and Democrats, Johnson announced on
Johnson's Ukraine aid could cost him his office as speaker
Internal party tensions are reaching a boiling point. A verbal altercation erupted in the House of Representatives on Thursday morning when Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) got into a heated argument in which he aggressively urged members of the Freedom Caucus to introduce their measure to remove Johnson and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) was a “wimp,” according to a person who witnessed the altercation. Gaetz responded by asking Van Orden if he had an IQ over 40, a spokesman for Gaetz said.
Van Orden was at the “Save America” rally on January 6, 2021 and last year complained about high school interns who lay on the floor of the Capitol Rotunda to look at the frescoes.
Johnson's attempt to pass five separate bills is already a blow to the speaker, whose six-month term is threatened by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) promise to oust Johnson if he brings Ukraine aid to the table lays down what many right-wing Republicans reject.
“I don’t care if the speaker’s office becomes a revolving door,” Greene said Thursday on the “War Room” podcast.
Greene told reporters Thursday that she would "absolutely" pursue her request if Johnson tried to raise the threshold needed to be voted out.
“If he wants to change the eviction motion, he needs to go before the Republican conference that elected him and tell us his intentions,” Greene said. “Kevin McCarthy, while staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, never made such a move behind closed doors and made deals with Democrats to change the eviction notice.”
Republican frustration
At a press conference on Wednesday evening, Johnson was visibly emotional when asked why he decided to pass the foreign aid package at this time.
“Listen, my philosophy is to do the right thing and let things go. ... If I acted out of fear of being evicted, I wouldn’t be able to do my job,” he said. “This is a critical time now. ... I can make a selfish decision and do something else. But I’m doing what I think is right here.”
Republicans who want to govern and feel compelled to help foreign allies in the face of threats from Russia, Iran and China have rallied behind the speaker, pleased that he is facing a "Chamberlain-Churchill moment." is taking a step forward, referring to the former British Prime Ministers.
Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (N.Y.), who attended the Main Street Caucus meeting, said Republicans like him were "all pretty frustrated." He urged his colleagues to recognize that if they continue to stall on critical issues, other Republicans will rely on bipartisan support to do the right thing.
"I think it's a time where we need to look at this country as a whole and start making decisions as Americans and recognize that this is a critical time in the world and that there are a lot of eyes on this institution," he said.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on April 19, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.