First Democrat publicly says he would vote to save Mike Johnson's job since massive aid push passes

Progressive Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. said he would support House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., if the lower chamber ultimately votes on whether to remove him from his job after passing foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

On Saturday, months-awaited foreign aid bills passed in the House. But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. and other House Republicans have threatened to move what's known as a motion to vacate against the speaker for advancing the aid bills and working with Democrats on other issues.

Khanna told ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that he gives Johnson “credit” for passing foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. He said he would vote to table a motion to vacate him, which essentially stalls legislation in Congress.

“I’m a progressive Democrat, and I think you would have a few progressive Democrats doing that, and I disagree with Speaker Johnson on many issues,” said Khanna. “But he did the right thing here and he deserves to keep his job until the end of this term.”

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Johnson may have to rely on Democrats to keep him in power if Greene and her supporters can garner enough GOP support for the push.

Many hard-right lawmakers have criticized Johnson for not tying border and immigration policy changes to the foreign aid bills. That legislation had been delayed for months, as Johnson vowed to address a long-looming government shutdown before providing foreign aid.

Johnson ultimately broke the assistance bills into pieces to allow GOP representatives to pick and choose which bills to support. They included three bills that allocate $60.8 billion for Ukraine, $26.4 billion for Israel, and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific region, as well as a fourth bill that could effectively ban TikTok, the popular video-based social media app, nationwide.

While all bills passed on a bipartisan basis and by wide margins, the majority of Republicans, 112, voted against aid to Ukraine.

Not all Republicans oppose Johnson’s move, however; Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, called the speaker a “profile in courage” during an interview with ABC on Sunday.

“I'm so proud with the speaker Mike Johnson. He went through a transformation,” said McCaul, who said he will be supporting Johnson if he has to fight for his job. “At the end of the day, a profile in courage is putting the nation above yourself.”

McCaul added that support from Democrats for the speaker shows that the House is in a “bipartisan era,” though the chamber has been largely divided in recent memory.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna says he'd vote to save Mike Johnson's job