U.S. aid to Ukraine hinges on House speaker

WASHINGTON>> When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with congressional leaders in Washington late last year he told them privately what is now public: With U.S. weapons, they could win the war against Russia, but without them Russian President Vladimir Putin would be victorious.

In a subsequent meeting with new House Speaker Mike Johnson, a looming deadline for the supplies came into focus.

Now, with U.S. aid for Ukraine teetering in Congress, it’s up to Johnson to decide what happens next.

The Republican’s leadership will determine whether the House will agree to approve more aid for Ukraine or allow the U.S. commitment to wither, the end of the line for the embattled young democracy in Kyiv.

President Joe Biden, in a call Saturday with Zelenskyy after Ukraine announced it was withdrawing troops from the eastern city of Avdiivka, stressed the need for urgent congressional action to resupply Ukrainian forces, according to a White House summary of the conversation. Biden also reaffirmed the “strong bipartisan support” in the U.S. government and among Americans for Ukraine’s sovereignty, the White House said.

Zelenskyy said at a news conference with Vice President Kamala Harris in Germany that Ukraine was counting on a “positive decision” from Congress for the “vital” aid from its “strategic partner.” Earlier at a security conference in Munich, he warned of an “artificial deficit” of arms for his country.

The political and policy decisions ahead in Congress are gravely uncertain. Johnson is insisting he won’t be “rushed” into approving the $95.3 billion foreign aid package from the Senate, despite overwhelming support from most Democrats and almost half the Republicans. But he has yet to chart a path forward in his chamber.

While many in Congress view Putin as a global threat, particularly after Russia intervened in the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump, Johnson’s colleagues on the far right are increasingly ambivalent about Putin’s aggression and authoritarian leadership, as seen in conservative Tucker Carlson’s admiring videos from Moscow after his recent interview with the Russian leader.

Even the sudden death of Alexei Navalny, the most famous political prisoner in Russia and Putin’s biggest rival, did not appear to move the House speaker Friday to commit to support for Ukraine.

“As Congress debates the best path forward to support Ukraine, the United States, and our partners, must be using every means available to cut off Putin’s ability to fund his unprovoked war in Ukraine and aggression against the Baltic states,” Johnson, R-LA., said in a statement.

Just months on the job, the new speaker is prone to dithering on big questions of the day as he tries to unite his deeply fractured but paper-thin House GOP majority, which is filled with up-and-coming figures challenging his leadership and, at times, threatening his ouster.

In one of his first interviews since taking the gavel in October, Johnson told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Congress was “not going to abandon” Ukraine.

But in the months since, Johnson’s bottom-up leadership style, in which he tries to hear out all comers, has created a leadership vacuum on Ukraine aid that others are increasingly willing and able to fill.

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a Trump ally who opposes more aid to Ukraine, said he hopes to lead a new generation of Republican lawmakers eager to turn away from traditional GOP interventionism around the world.

Gaetz said he believes additional U.S. military aid for Ukraine risks escalating the conflict in ways potentially harmful to Americans.

“And I think that is a lot more significant to my constituents than which dude gets to run Crimea,” Gaetz said, referring to the region Russia has claimed from Ukraine as its own.

If the $95 billion aid package was put to a vote, Johnson would find overwhelming support in the House from a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. Anchoring the package is $61 billion for Ukraine, mainly in the form of military equipment from the U.S. It also sends foreign assistance and humanitarian aid to Israel, Gaza and allies in the Indo-pacific region, including Taiwan.

“There is only Plan A, which is to ensure that Ukraine receives what it needs,” Harris said alongside Zelenskyy in Munich.

She added that “we must be unwavering and we cannot play political games.”

Biden and the Democratic congressional leaders are imploring the speaker to cast off his right wing and join forces with them to send a sweeping bipartisan message of U.S. leadership in supporting Ukraine and confirming the U.S. commitment to its allies around the world, especially as Trump criticizes the NATO alliance.