Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday faced stiff opposition from Republicans as he embarked on a complex and politically dangerous strategy to push the House to pass legislation to send aid for Israel and Ukraine – while repelling the threat to his own job.
Mr. Johnson, who has been agonizing for months over whether to proceed with aid to Ukraine and how to push for aid to Ukraine that many in his party strongly oppose, decided on a The multi-part plan will require everything to go smoothly for him to win this week.
It aims to bring together a complex mix of bipartisan coalitions and allow different factions in the House to express their opposition to parts of the aid package without sinking the entire package. aid. And ultimately, that means mustering enough support from Democrats and mainstream Republicans to pass the legislation amid opposition from far-right Republicans. funding for Ukraine and from left-wing Democrats for unlimited aid to Israel.
Mr. Johnson plans to push a legislative package nearly identical to the $95 billion aid bill the Senate passed two months ago with aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and other U.S. allies — but is divided into three separate parts, each of which will be voted on individually. There will also be a fourth vote on a separate measure that includes other policies popular with Republicans, including qualifying Ukraine aid as a loan.
The strategy has faced fierce opposition from members of his own party, including one Republican, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who announced Tuesday that he would join an intimidating attempt to remove Mr Johnson from the top job.
“We’re moving toward everything Chuck Schumer wants,” Mr. Massie said of the aid package, referring to the Senate majority leader explaining his decision to reporters after the meeting.
Mr. Johnson said he chose this approach because “every member, both Republican and Democratic, can vote their own district and their conscience on this issue.” For example, it would allow Republicans who support aid to Israel but oppose aid to Ukraine to register separate positions, instead of forcing them to support or reject a foreign aid bill. synthetic.
“The will of the House is to deal with this issue on an individual topic basis, in regular order, in a regular process with an amendment process,” he said on “Fox and Friends.”
If all four parts pass the House, they will be folded into a single bill for Senate consideration, ensuring that senators cannot pick and choose each part for approval or rejection.
Mr. Schumer, a Democrat of New York, said he was “reserving judgment” on the legislative package “until we know more about the nature of the proposal and the process by which it will move forward.” onion”.
House Republican leadership aides worked Tuesday to draft the bill text. But some members of Mr. Johnson’s party have balked.
Mr. Massie, a liberal lawmaker who led the effort to oust John A. Boehner as speaker nearly a decade ago, endorsed the effort to oust Mr. Johnson by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia took the lead, making him the second Republican to do so. In a closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning, he stood up and told Mr. Johnson that he should announce his resignation date and allow Republicans to choose a new speaker before he relinquishes the top job.
Representative Chip Roy of Texas, an influential conservative, said he was unhappy that Mr. Johnson did not include any border security measures in the foreign aid package — as he previously insisted he would do – and opposes the idea of sending separate measures to the Senate in one package.
“Don’t use Israel as a way to force Ukraine to take down the American people without border security,” Roy said.
The speaker’s plan, he said, “is being sold as an open process, but it’s all structured to achieve a general end result that would effectively be similar to the Senate bill.”
Despite conservative frustration with the plan, it remains unclear whether other Republicans will join Ms. Greene’s effort to oust another speaker after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster on Tuesday. last October or not. Mr. Massie’s announcement on Tuesday sparked public frustration from mainstream Republicans and even some conservatives, who said they did not want to go through another painful ouster. .
“We don’t need that,” said Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio. “No way. No way. We don’t want that. We shouldn’t go through that again.”
And a group of mainstream conservatives has rallied to Mr Johnson’s side. In a remarkable joint statement, all three heads of the House national security committee – Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee; Mike Turner of Ohio, Chairman of the Intelligence Committee; and Mike Rogers of Alabama, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee – endorsed the plan. Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, chairman of Appraisals, also signed on.
“There is nothing our adversaries love more than Congress failing to pass critical national security aid,” they wrote. “Speaker Johnson has introduced a plan to advance America’s national security interests in Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. We don’t have time to spare when it comes to national security. We need to pass this aid package this week.”
Mr Johnson defended his decision on Tuesday and flatly ruled out resigning.
“I consider myself a wartime speaker,” he said at a news conference at the Capitol minutes after the caucus meeting. “Literally, that’s true. I knew it when I held the hammer. I didn’t expect this would be an easy road.”
Former President Donald J. Trump, who gave Mr. Johnson increased his public appearances last week but has recently reversed the speaker’s legislative agenda, was cautious when asked on Tuesday about Mr Johnson while making the point stop the campaign following proceedings in his New York criminal case.
“Well, we’ll see what happens with that,” Mr. Trump said. “I think he is a very good person.”
Even bringing the national security package to the House of Representatives for a vote requires special measures. With growing Republican opposition and the party’s razor-thin majority, it seems certain that Mr. Johnson will not be able to introduce a bill requiring a floor vote without the Party’s support. Democracy.
The minority party almost never votes for a rule proposed by a majority in the House. But Democrats previously helped pave the way for legislation to suspend the debt ceiling, averting the nation’s first default, and have since signaled they may be ready to support Mr. extremely important.
At least one Democrat, Representative Jared Moskowitz of Florida, suggested Tuesday that he would move to save Mr. Johnson if far-right Republicans were forced to vote him out, a move that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and minority leader, has suggested many in his party should weigh in.
Mr. Moskowitz wrote on social networks: “Massie wants the world to burn, I will not stand by and watch. “I have a bucket of water.”
Michael Gold Contributed reporting from New York.
