Speaker Johnson searches for path on Ukraine
WASHINGTON — when Speaker mike Johnson opened the floor for questions at a closed-door luncheon fundraiser in new Jersey last month, Jacquie Colgan asked how, in the face of vehement opposition within his own ranks, he planned to handle aid for Ukraine.
What followed was an impassioned monologue by Johnson in which the louisiana Republican explained why continued US aid to Kyiv was, in his view, vital — a message starkly at odds with the hard-right views that have overtaken his party. He invoked his political roots as a Reagan Republican, denounced President Vladimir Putin of Russia as a “madman,” and conceded the issue had forced him to walk a “delicate political tightrope.”
Reminded by Colgan, a member of the american Coalition for Ukraine, a nonprofit advocacy group, of the adage that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil was for good people to do nothing, Johnson replied that he kept a copy of the quotation framed in his office.
“that’s not going to be us,” he assured her. “we’re going to do our job.”
The exchange reflects what Johnson has privately told donors, foreign leaders, and fellow members of Congress in recent weeks, according to extensive notes Colgan took during the new Jersey event and interviews with several other people who have spoken with him.
While the speaker has remained noncommittal about any one option, he has repeatedly expressed a personal desire to send aid to Ukraine — something he has voted against repeatedly in the past — and now appears to be in search of the least politically damaging way to do it.
The challenge for Johnson is that any combination of aid measures he puts to a vote will likely infuriate the growing isolationist wing of his party, which considers the issue toxic. Representative marjorie taylor greene, a georgia Republican who has repeatedly said she would call a snap vote to unseat the speaker if he allowed a vote for Ukraine aid before imposing restrictive immigration measures, filed a resolution Friday calling for his removal, saying she wanted to send him “a warning.”
Even if greene follows through on the threat, Johnson could still hold onto his job.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, a new York Democrat, has said he believed “a reasonable number” of Democrats would vote to save the speaker were he to face a Republican mutiny for acting on the Senatepassed aid package, though Friday Jeffries said that had been “an observation, not a declaration.”
In a lengthy statement Friday after greene had filed her resolution and the House departed washington for its Easter recess, Johnson said that when lawmakers returned in two weeks, they would “take the necessary steps to address the supplemental funding request.”
“We have done important work discussing options with members,” he said, “and are preparing to complete our plan for action.”
Privately, Johnson has expressed an interest in linking Ukraine aid to a measure aimed at forcing the Biden administration to reverse its moratorium on liquid natural gas exports, according to three people familiar with his deliberations who were not authorized to discuss them. Johnson pressed the issue at a white House meeting last month with President Biden and congressional leaders, arguing that by prohibiting new exports of domestic energy, the administration was increasing reliance on Russian gas, effectively enriching Ukraine’s enemy.