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(The Guardian) Pressure mounts on Johnson over Ukraine aid as ouster threat looms
The House returns today after a two-week Easter recess as the speaker, Mike Johnson, faces mounting pressure to advance a Ukraine aid package and the threat of an intra-party revolt if he does so.
Johnson has indicated the House will take up the issue of Ukraine funding this week, but many hard-right members of his conference remain staunchly opposed to additional Ukraine aid and the Georgia congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has already introduced a motion-to-vacate resolution, all but daring Johnson to move forward with a Ukraine aid bill so she can force a vote on the matter. Speaking to CNN last week, Greene said: I’m not saying I have a red line or a trigger, and I’m not saying I don’t have a red line or trigger. But I’m going to tell you right now: funding Ukraine is probably one of the most egregious things that he can do.
Meanwhile, the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, is scheduled to meet with secretary of state Antony Blinken and congressional lawmakers in Washington over the next two days. Ahead of his meeting with Blinken, Cameron took the unusual and potentially risky step of traveling to see Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, in the hopes of persuading the presumptive Republican presidential candidate to drop his opposition to Ukraine aid deal that is being held up in Congress partly on Trump’s instruction.
As the House adjourned last month, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, vowed that the chamber would soon “take the necessary steps to address the supplemental funding request”, which includes money for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The Senate passed a $95bn foreign aid package in February, but Johnson indicated that the House would consider an amended proposal when members return to Washington. Johnson told Fox News last Sunday:
We’ve been talking to all the members, especially now over the district work period. When we return after this work period, we’ll be moving a product, but it’s going to, I think, have some important innovations.
Those innovations might include sending money to Kyiv as a loan or redirecting Russian assets seized under the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (Repo) for Ukrainians Act.
But even those changes are unlikely to sway the most vocal Ukraine skeptics in the House Republican conference, such as the congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
The House returns today after a two-week Easter recess as the speaker, Mike Johnson, faces mounting pressure to advance a Ukraine aid package and the threat of an intra-party revolt if he does so.
Johnson has indicated the House will take up the issue of Ukraine funding this week, but many hard-right members of his conference remain staunchly opposed to additional Ukraine aid and the Georgia congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has already introduced a motion-to-vacate resolution, all but daring Johnson to move forward with a Ukraine aid bill so she can force a vote on the matter. Speaking to CNN last week, Greene said: I’m not saying I have a red line or a trigger, and I’m not saying I don’t have a red line or trigger. But I’m going to tell you right now: funding Ukraine is probably one of the most egregious things that he can do.
Meanwhile, the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, is scheduled to meet with secretary of state Antony Blinken and congressional lawmakers in Washington over the next two days. Ahead of his meeting with Blinken, Cameron took the unusual and potentially risky step of traveling to see Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, in the hopes of persuading the presumptive Republican presidential candidate to drop his opposition to Ukraine aid deal that is being held up in Congress partly on Trump’s instruction.
As the House adjourned last month, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, vowed that the chamber would soon “take the necessary steps to address the supplemental funding request”, which includes money for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The Senate passed a $95bn foreign aid package in February, but Johnson indicated that the House would consider an amended proposal when members return to Washington. Johnson told Fox News last Sunday:
We’ve been talking to all the members, especially now over the district work period. When we return after this work period, we’ll be moving a product, but it’s going to, I think, have some important innovations.
Those innovations might include sending money to Kyiv as a loan or redirecting Russian assets seized under the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (Repo) for Ukrainians Act.
But even those changes are unlikely to sway the most vocal Ukraine skeptics in the House Republican conference, such as the congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.