(IntegrityTimes.com) – House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is caught between a rock and a hard place once again after proposing a stand-alone Ukraine aid bill. The bill would likely need support from two-thirds of the House to pass, which means Johnson will be forced to rely on Democrats to push it across the finish line. Some Republicans have demanded that Johnson refuse to bring any bill to the floor involving aid to Ukraine. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has vowed to force a vote to oust Johnson from the speakership if he moves forward with funding for Ukraine.
Johnson’s plan for a Ukraine aid bill includes a bill called the REPO Act, which has some support from Democrats. It would allow for the confiscation of Russian assets that are frozen in the United States to be sent to Ukraine for aid. He also floated the idea of loaning money to Ukraine, as well as resuming the approval of liquified national gas export permit requests. Those two ideas do not have much Democrat support, but some centrists have said they probably would be on board. Most Democrats have urged Johnson to simply bring the Senate-passed national security bill that would send $95 billion to several countries, with the largest portion going to Ukraine.
Johnson has refused to entertain the idea of passing the Senate bill, which means aid for Israel and Taiwan would need to be passed in another somewhat stand-alone bill. But now Democrats have thrown another monkey wrench into the process. Representative Susan Wild, D-Pa., and seven of her colleagues sent a letter to Johnson asking for $9.16 billion in aid to six other countries and Gaza to be included in the Ukraine aid bill. The lawmakers claimed that the United States was responsible for providing aid to Sudan, Lebanon, Haiti, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Venezuela. Additionally, the lawmakers wrote that “abdicating this responsibility” would cause more instability around the world which would fuel “threats to our security.” Republicans will likely oppose such a measure, as most are not on board with sending aid to Gaza. One House Democrat said that Johnson did not have any other choice but to welcome support from Democrats if he wanted to get something passed.
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