House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony on April 10.
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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony on April 10.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson is moving forward with a plan to vote on separate bills to provide assistance to Ukraine, Israel and U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific, despite growing criticism from within his conference and the looming threat of being ousted from his post.
The plan is to introduce the three individual foreign aid bills; a fourth bill placing sanctions on Russia, China and Iran; and a fifth bill including border security measures, Johnson said in a message to House Republicans Wednesday. Bill text for the foreign aid bills was posted Wednesday afternoon.
The addition of a border security bill comes after a number of House Republicans criticized Johnson for abandoning prior demands to tie Ukraine funding to border provisions. A Senate-passed package that included foreign aid with no border provisions has been languishing in the House. But the change may not be enough to assuage hardline conservatives, who swiftly came out in opposition of the plan.
The four bills related to foreign threats are being considered under one procedural “rule,” while the border bill will be considered under its own. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who opposes Ukraine funding, said he would oppose the rule vote for the larger package because “the border ‘vote’ in this package is a watered-down dangerous cover vote,” he wrote on social media.
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., also wrote on social media that “Every true conservative America First patriot in the House should vote against the rule for this borrowed foreign aid bill with no border security!”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has cosponsored a motion to vacate Johnson from the speakership, said Tuesday that adding border provisions would not change his mind.
“We’re well beyond that,” Massie said.
Massie and Roy both sit on the House Rules Committee, where three Republican “No’s” could defeat the motion before it even comes to the floor. On the floor, Johnson has almost no wiggle room within his razor-thin majority.
Typically, the minority does not provide votes to pass rules on the floor. Speaking to reporters Wednesday morning, Democratic House Whip Katherine Clark on Wednesday did not rule out Democrats supporting the rule in this case, but said her caucus needed to see the substance of the legislation first.
“They have to tell us what they’re bringing to the floor before we can say, ‘This is how we’ll help you do it,’ ” Clark said.
Clark said Democrats’ preference would be for a single House vote on the foreign aid package that passed the Senate, but that their priority was passing assistance to Ukraine. She added that providing the $9 billion of humanitarian assistance to Gaza and other countries included in the Senate bill is a “red line.”
