Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will lean heavily on Democrats to move a series of bills in the coming days providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and other democratic allies overseas \u2014 a strategy that acknowledges the nuances of governing in a divided Washington but also heightens the risk of his removal by disgruntled conservatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In rejecting a Senate-passed foreign aid bill favored by Democrats, the Speaker has sought to mollify his hardline GOP critics and put a more conservative stamp on the contentious foreign assistance. Simultaneously, he\u2019s moving a border security bill, also aimed at bringing conservatives on board, that is dead-on-arrival in the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that alternative, multi-prong strategy for moving almost $100 billion in overseas aid has only aggravated his restive right flank, put a spotlight on his tenuous grip on the conference he leads, and triggered a new threat to his gavel, when Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) announced he\u2019s ready to boot the Speaker from his leadership perch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The backlash means the success of the legislation hinges on the votes of Democrats \u2014 not only on the final bills when they hit the floor, but on the procedural resolutions that will get them there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That dynamic was made crystal clear on Wednesday, when Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) announced that he and Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) \u2014 the three most hardline members of the House Rules Committee \u2014 would oppose the rule sending Johnson\u2019s bills to the House floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roy told reporters it \u201csure would seem likely at this point\u201d that Democrats will need to help pass the rule out of committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just fundamentally and strongly disagree with where the Speaker\u2019s landed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the sharp criticism, Johnson earned the coveted endorsement of a key Republican last week \u2014 former President Trump \u2014 who said the Speaker is \u201cdoing a very good job.\u201d The vote of confidence has complicated the path forward for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who is leading the ouster effort \u2014 the one endorsed by Massie \u2014 but said she would not force it to the floor before the foreign aid votes this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to call it before that bill comes to the floor because I think that bill is definitely going to tell a lot of people exactly what I have been saying,\u201d Greene told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnson has dismissed the threat, saying he\u2019s simply working to defend a democratic ally overseas in the mold of the Reagan conservatives who steered the GOP before Trump\u2019s arrival on the political scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy philosophy is you do the right thing and you let the chips fall where they may. If I operated out of fear over a motion to vacate I would never be able to do my job,\u201d Johnson said Wednesday. \u201cI could make a selfish decision and do something that\u2019s different, but I\u2019m doing what I believe to be the right thing. I think providing lethal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnson\u2019s decision to charge ahead with his plan in the face of that internal resistance means that he\u2019ll first need Democrats on the Rules Committee to override the conservatives\u2019 opposition \u2014 a highly unusual dynamic on a panel where the minority party, almost without exception, opposes the procedural resolutions that bring proposals to the floor, even if that same minority party supports the underlying legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
House Democratic leaders haven\u2019t publicly committed to that support. But President Biden endorsed all four of Johnson\u2019s bills on Wednesday \u2014 even before the last had been unveiled \u2014 and other top Democrats they\u2019re ready to provide the votes Johnson needs to send the legislation along to the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe cannot retreat from the world stage under the guise of putting \u2018America First,\u2019\u201d said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. \u201cWe put America first by demonstrating the power of American leadership \u2013 that we have the strength, resolve, and heart to fight for the most vulnerable people, protect their freedom, and preserve their dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI urge swift passage of these bills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) stopped short of pronouncing that same support, saying he first wants to gauge the temperature of his Democratic Caucus during a Thursday morning meeting in the Capitol. But with Biden and DeLauro already endorsing Johnson\u2019s legislation, it\u2019s virtually inconceivable that Jeffries would oppose the legislation. And on Wednesday afternoon, he framed the foreign aid in the most sweeping historical terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a Churchill or Chamberlain moment,\u201d Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol. \u201cWe can either confront Russian aggression in defense of democracy, or we can allow the pro-Putin, extreme MAGA Republicans to appease him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnson, for his part, said he is pushing not to have to rely on Democratic votes to get the rule across the finish line \u2014 \u201cI hope not,\u201d he told CNN in an interview \u2014 but in the same breath he acknowledged the tough political landscape in Washington is leaving him no choice but to work across the aisle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to get 100 percent of what we want right now because we have the smallest majority in history, and we only have the majority in one chamber,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe Republicans run the House. We have the small majority in the House. The Democrats are in charge of the Senate and the White House. So, we\u2019re, by definition, we won\u2019t get everything we want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the same reality Johnson has acknowledged in cutting deals with Biden on federal spending and government surveillance, which the Speaker ushered through the House in recent weeks. But both negotiations infuriated the hardliners, who are up in arms with the Speaker\u2019s propensity to team up with Democrats, despite the current dynamics in D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of those critics are now accusing Johnson, a stalwart conservative over his tenure in Congress, of betraying his roots on the Ukraine package, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Democrats are gonna provide, I predict, as many votes that are needed to pass the rule, \u2018cause the rule will surely fail on Republican votes,\u201d said Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who called part of Johnson\u2019s plan \u201ca joke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Democrats will find as many votes as needed, why wouldn\u2019t they?\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re doing, once again, what Democrats want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a top Johnson critic who has filed a motion to vacate against the Speaker, specifically took aim at his decision to move a border bill separate from the foreign aid legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an effort to appease conservatives, Johnson announced Wednesday morning that the House would consider a border bill under a procedural rule separate from the foreign aid measures \u2014 meaning it will not move alongside the aid bills to the Senate, if passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gambit, however, did not land well with conservatives, who called it out as a symbolic way to try and appease conservatives without alienating Democrats \u2014 or actually passing border security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a theatrics, shiny object,\u201d Greene told reporters. \u201cAnd it\u2019s separated from the foreign aid package because he needs the Democrats to help him pass it, so he clearly made the agreement with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s separate not to upset them, so they\u2019ll vote for the foreign aid package,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd it\u2019s the shiny object for Republicans that are saying we got to do something for the border.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On one level, Johnson has satisfied the conservatives: He\u2019s adhering to a 72-hour rule which allows lawmakers a full three days, after introduction of legislation, before they have to vote on it \u2014 a timeline that extends the foreign-aid votes to Saturday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will lean heavily on Democrats to move a series of bills in the coming days providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and other democratic allies overseas \u2014 a strategy that acknowledges the nuances of governing in a divided Washington but also heightens the risk of his removal by disgruntled conservatives. In rejecting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[61],"class_list":["post-5729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-usa","tag-usa"],"yoast_head":"\n