Speaker pushes ahead on U.S. aid for Ukraine and Israel

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back Tuesday against mounting Republican anger over his proposed U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other allies, and rejected a call to step aside or risk a vote to oust him from office.

“I am not resigning,” Johnson said after a meeting of fellow House Republicans at the Capitol

Johnson indicated in his strongest self-defense yet he would press forward with a U.S. national security aid package, a situation that would force him to rely on Democrats to help pass it.

“We are simply here trying to do our jobs,” Johnson said, calling the motion to oust him “absurd ... not helpful.”

Tuesday brought a definitive shift in tone from both the House Republicans and the speaker himself at a pivotal moment as the embattled leader tries, against the wishes of his majority, to marshal the votes needed to send the stalled national security aid for Israel, Ukraine and other overseas allies to passage.

After Johnson briefed the president, White House officials said they were taking a wait-and-see approach until the text of the speaker's plan is released and the procedural pathway becomes more clear.

“It does appear at first blush, that the speaker's proposal will, in fact, help us get aid to Ukraine, aid to Israel and needed resources to the Indo-Pacific for a wide range of contingencies there,” John Kirby, the White House's national security spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday.

The speaker is considering a complicated approach that would break apart the Senate's $95 billion aid package for separate votes, and then either stitch it back together or send the components to the Senate for final passage, and potentially onto the White House for the president's signature.

The speaker faces a threat of ouster from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., the top Trump ally who has filed a motion to vacate the speaker from office in a snap vote — much the way Republicans ousted their former speaker, Kevin McCarthy, last fall.

While Greene has not said if or when she will force the issue, and has not found much support for her plan after last year's turmoil over McCarthy's exit, she drew at least one key backer Tuesday.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., rose in the meeting and suggested Johnson should step aside.

“Speaker Johnson must announce a resignation date and allow Republicans to elect a new Speaker to put America First and pass a Republican agenda,” Greene wrote on social media, thanking Massie for his support for her motion to vacate.