by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch
The key issue? Further aid for Ukraine. It’s a no-brainer for President Biden and congressional Democrats, who have been calling for more assistance to aid the country’s defense against Russia’s incursion. In the Senate, a large coalition of mainstream Republicans also support the bill.
But the ask is more divisive in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) faces a divided conference and threats of an ouster over Ukraine aid. Johnson said the House will move an aid package for Ukraine after the April recess, but it could look strikingly different from the $95 billion aid package Senators passed in February. Johnson’s terms for Ukraine aid may also include a measure that would force Biden to reverse a moratorium on new permits for liquefied natural gas export facilities, something that Republicans would see as a political victory.
THE MAIN HURDLE standing in the package’s way in the House — effectively stalling it on Capitol Hill for months — has been Johnson’s refusal to bring it up in the face of vehement hard-right opposition in the GOP to sending more aid to Kyiv (The New York Times).
Politico: Johnson eyes Russian assets in the Ukraine funding fight. Bipartisan legislation would let the U.S. seize $5 billion to $8 billion in Russian assets.
Multiple members of the House GOP leadership said Monday that the odds lawmakers would approve more assistance were no better than 50 percent, and Johnson hasn’t made clear how much of his own political standing he is willing to put on the line (Bloomberg News). Now, the Speaker has told Republican senators that a substantial portion of the assistance in the House bill would be provided in the form of a loan, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports, an idea championed by former President Trump but initially dismissed by Senate leaders in both parties.
But given the dire situation on the eastern Ukrainian front, where Ukrainian troops are running out of weapons and ammunition, even senators who were initially skeptical about a loan program are warming up to the idea. Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) acknowledged Monday that Congress is running out of time to help Ukraine and the Senate may be forced to accept whatever passes the House.
Congress is in recess, but lawmakers are still focused on the work that awaits them once they return to Washington next week.
The key issue? Further aid for Ukraine. It’s a no-brainer for President Biden and congressional Democrats, who have been calling for more assistance to aid the country’s defense against Russia’s incursion. In the Senate, a large coalition of mainstream Republicans also support the bill.
But the ask is more divisive in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) faces a divided conference and threats of an ouster over Ukraine aid. Johnson said the House will move an aid package for Ukraine after the April recess, but it could look strikingly different from the $95 billion aid package Senators passed in February. Johnson’s terms for Ukraine aid may also include a measure that would force Biden to reverse a moratorium on new permits for liquefied natural gas export facilities, something that Republicans would see as a political victory.
THE MAIN HURDLE standing in the package’s way in the House — effectively stalling it on Capitol Hill for months — has been Johnson’s refusal to bring it up in the face of vehement hard-right opposition in the GOP to sending more aid to Kyiv (The New York Times).
Politico: Johnson eyes Russian assets in the Ukraine funding fight. Bipartisan legislation would let the U.S. seize $5 billion to $8 billion in Russian assets.
Multiple members of the House GOP leadership said Monday that the odds lawmakers would approve more assistance were no better than 50 percent, and Johnson hasn’t made clear how much of his own political standing he is willing to put on the line (Bloomberg News). Now, the Speaker has told Republican senators that a substantial portion of the assistance in the House bill would be provided in the form of a loan, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports, an idea championed by former President Trump but initially dismissed by Senate leaders in both parties.
But given the dire situation on the eastern Ukrainian front, where Ukrainian troops are running out of weapons and ammunition, even senators who were initially skeptical about a loan program are warming up to the idea. Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) acknowledged Monday that Congress is running out of time to help Ukraine and the Senate may be forced to accept whatever passes the House.
I think in whatever form it comes — whatever form it takes to get the aid to Ukraine, that’s the form that we got to go [with],” she told reporters. “I am of course a believer in the bill that was passed here in the Senate, would prefer that the House take that up. I don’t want to have to go through it all here in the Senate again, but getting the aid to Ukraine has to be the priority, and we have to do it as quickly as possible.”
ONE OF JOHNSON’S OBSTACLES is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who on Monday accused the Speaker of having “surrendered” to House Democrats and the White House after he knocked her on Fox News. Johnson described Greene’s recent threat to trigger a vote to remove him from the Speakership — while objecting to his willingness to sideline various conservative demands in his conference — as a “distraction from our mission.” The ensuing chaos, he said, would hinder the GOP from defending the House and flipping the Senate and White House this fall.
“This is not an easy job right now,” Johnson said, adding that Republicans are “not going to get the legislation that we all desire and prefer” with Democrats in control of the Senate and White House (The Hill).
“But with the smallest margin in U.S. history, we’re sometimes going to get legislation that we don’t like,” Johnson said.
The Hill
