Speaker Johnson Set To Release Ukraine Aid Proposal First Championed by Trump

Speaker Johnson will soon unveil his own foreign aid bill now that government funding and a warrantless surveillance reform bill have been finalized. Just months after taking the top job, the speaker faces threats from those anti-Ukraine elements within his conference and is risking losing the speakership for his innovative approach to supplying aid to the besieged nation. Mr. Johnson has embraced President Trump’s and Senator Graham’s idea that $60 billion be provided to Ukraine in the form of a loan. “They want to give them $60 billion more,” Mr. Trump said at a February rally in South Carolina. “Do it this way: loan them the money. If they can make it, they pay us back. If they can’t make it, they don’t have to pay us back.”For months, Mr. Johnson has left his colleagues guessing what he wants to do about the Ukraine issue. First, he demanded a foreign aid bill that included reforms to immigration law and border security, only to later torpedo a bipartisan solution negotiated by Senators Murphy and Lankford. His national security committee chairmen have also been left out of the conversation. The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Michael McCaul, first told the Sun that he has been left in the dark about what the speaker wants to do. Mr. McCaul said in March that the speaker wanted to get government funding done before any foreign aid considerations, though that funding has now been finished. “I think he wants to do the normal appropriations process first,” the chairman said “But I still don’t know.”When asked if Mr. Johnson had given him any assurances that a bill would be considered at the end of the funding process, Mr. McCaul responded curtly: “No. He hasn’t told us anything.”Mr. Johnson has shifted, albeit slowly, toward supporting the Ukraine loan since government funding negotiations were concluded. In an interview with Fox News’ Trey Gowdy on March 31, the speaker said there would be “some important innovations” in his own foreign aid bill, which could include the loan and the seizure of Russian assets currently held in European banks and security exchanges.Some hardliners, however, say they will not entertain even a loan or the proposed seizure of assets. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has already filed a motion seeking to strip to Mr. Johnson of the speaker’s gavel after he “violated” Republican conference rules by putting a funding bill on the House floor without the majority support of his GOP colleagues. She can force a vote on the measure at any time, and now says that Ukraine aid would be a final straw for her. “Speaker Johnson is going to give Ukraine $60 billion next week and claims part of it is a ‘LOAN’ to Ukraine. It’s absolutely ridiculous and laughable to even try to tell the American people that Ukraine will ever pay us back!” she said on X. In a rare moment of agreement, Ms. Greene and Senator Romney have the same view of the loan idea. “If that gets some people over the line, fine, because ultimately, Ukraine is not going to pay back the loan to the U.S. It’s going to be a loan that’s forgiven,” he told reporters in March.Democrats in the House have agreed to help Mr. Johnson if he follows through with his much-anticipated Ukraine aid proposal. “If the choice is between Ukraine aid and providing a vote to stop a motion to vacate, or no Ukraine aid, I think there’s a lot of Democrats who would be willing to assist in getting it done,” said the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Congressman Jim Himes. “I will never side with Marjorie Taylor Greene ever. I will never turn the People’s House over to her,” said Congressman Jared Moskowitz. Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi, who won a pivotal special election to replace the disgraced former lawmaker George Santos, just returned from a trip to Ukraine, where he met with President Zelensky. Mr. Suozzi called Ms. Greene’s motion to vacate “absurd” and said he would vote to protect Mr. Johnson if necessary.

Speaker Johnson Set To Release Ukraine Aid Proposal First Championed by Trump

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