Defying Hardliners, Speaker Johnson Presses Ahead on Ukraine, Israel Plan

Erik Wasson and Billy House
·4 min read
7

(Bloomberg) -- US House Speaker Mike Johnson is moving ahead with new assistance for Ukraine and Israel in the face of threats from Republican hardliners to oust him.

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The Republican leader outlined a $95 billion aid package after intense discussions with ultra-conservatives that dragged on into the night Tuesday. He said he expects to bring it to a vote Saturday.

President Joe Biden endorsed the plan and implored Congress to work quickly. “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,” he said in a statement.

Johnson plans to split up the foreign aid package, allowing lawmakers to vote separately on assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

The Israel bill also contains $9 billion for global humanitarian disaster relief and refugee assistance.

Another bill calls for seizing Russian assets to help defray aid costs. Johnson said that legislation also has a provision that would force China-based ByteDance Ltd to divest itself of the video-sharing app TikTok to continue operating in the US.

Read More: TikTok Divest-or-Ban Bill Moving on Fast Track Through Congress

The House already passed the TikTok divestiture requirement, but the Senate hasn’t acted on it. Attaching the provision would force the Senate to accept the legislation as a condition for Ukraine and Israel aid.

Read More: What TikTok Tells Us About China’s Soft Power

The measures also would require economic assistance to Ukraine be repaid, taking up an idea Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump floated.

Johnson told members that a border security bill would be brought up for a vote separately, a move that was immediately denounced by conservative critics.

“Speaker Johnson is surrendering the last opportunity we have to combat the border crisis. This flies in the face of every promise Republicans have told you,” the House Freedom Caucus said in a statement.

The plan is an attempt to break a six-month-long Republican blockade of aid that has left Ukraine increasingly vulnerable to Russian assaults. It’s also intended to respond quickly to Iran’s drone and missile attack against Israel over the weekend.

Read More: US General Warns of Ukraine’s ‘Dire’ Situation as Aid Is Delayed

The gambit, however, has put Johnson’s job in new peril from the right flank of his own party. Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Tuesday he would join Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia in seeking the speaker’s ouster. If a third Republican joins them, Johnson would have to rely on the votes of Democrats to remain in power.

House Democrats on Wednesday made clear they would only help Johnson keep his job if the aid package has the same amount of funding as in the $95 billion Senate-passed combination measure.

“Appeasement will not work with Russia. Appeasement will not work with Marjorie Taylor Greene,” the No. 2 House Democratic leader, Katherine Clark, told reporters.

Read more: Speaker Johnson’s Ukraine, Israel Plan Spurs New Ouster Threat

Representative Adam Smith, a Washington State Democrat, said on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power” that “I, for one, will not vote to remove Speaker Johnson and I know a number of other Democrats feel the same way I do.”

Smith added that Johnson “carried through with his pledge not to abandon Ukraine.”

Biden first requested aid to Ukraine in October, and Republicans quickly conditioned passage on changes to US immigration policy. A bipartisan Senate deal intended to reduce illegal migration across the US-Mexico border collapsed in February after Johnson and Trump denounced it.

Splitting the aid into separate packages could ease passage. Ultra-conservatives have balked at Ukraine spending, which has been widely supported by Democrats. Progressives, at the same time, oppose funding to Israel without restrictions but have pushed to get aid to Ukraine quickly.

Money for Taiwan generally has support in both parties. A provision to lift a Biden administration pause on new liquified natural gas export facilities is on track to be left out of the package

--With assistance from Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz.

(Updates with liquified natural gas export facilities, in final paragraph.)

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