by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch
As a planned weekend vote on a foreign aid and national security legislation package draws closer, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is rolling the dice.
Johnson, who leads a razor-thin Republican House majority, needs Democratic support to pass a series of bills that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. But he also risks losing his gavel, as far-right conservatives have taken steps toward calling a vote to oust him. The Hill’s Mychael Schnell and Mike Lillis report votes are set for tomorrow on the $95 billion, four-bill package, which in addition to aid includes provisions on national security and a TikTok ban.
What was always going to be a heavy political lift is made more difficult by a pair of concessions Johnson inherited from his predecessor — a one-member threshold for calling a motion to vacate the Speakership, and giving conservatives a bloc of seats on the House Rules Committee, which controls what legislation can make it to the House floor. The bills cleared that committee late Thursday as party leaders narrowly avoided a blockade from conservatives — and Democrats had to come to the GOP’s rescue. Reminder: The minority party helping the majority in the Rules Committee is as rare as an eclipse.
After considering a rule change to raise the threshold for an ouster, Johnson on Thursday announced he would leave the motion-to-vacate rule as it is. Such a move would have infuriated conservatives in the House and would have significantly increased the chances of a challenge to Johnson’s Speakership.
“Democrats will not be responsible for this bill failing,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Thursday.
Still, The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes in The Memo that Johnson may just pull it off, and earn some goodwill from Democrats and moderate Republicans in the process. Both groups overwhelmingly believe in the need for the aid, especially for Ukraine — where troops risk running out of ammunition against Russia’s attack — and they appear reluctant to put that at risk simply to sow further chaos in the GOP conference.
The foreign aid bills closely mirror a Senate package, and if they pass the House they would be sent to the Senate for a vote. President Biden also supports the bills, and vowed to sign them once they cross his desk.
You get to a point where you can’t let yourself be held hostage by a fringe wing,” said GOP strategist Alex Conant, who worked on Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) 2016 presidential campaign. “The vast majority of Republicans don’t want to surrender Ukraine and support giving our allies what they need.”
- The Hill: Baltic Parliament leaders issued their support for Johnson ahead of a high-stakes Ukraine vote.
- Politico magazine: Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) push to quash Ukraine aid is part of a larger plan.
- The Hill: Republican impeachment efforts against Biden and his Cabinet appear to have hit a brick wall after the Senate this week swiftly dismissed articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
- The Hill: These are the 14 lawmakers who voted against condemning Iran’s attack on Israel.
Also factoring into Johnson’s squeeze: The Speaker can only lose two votes to pass anything given the slim GOP majority, which will narrow to one vote once Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) resigns this weekend. Over on the Democratic side of the aisle, Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.) remains hospitalized after a “cardiac episode.”
Meanwhile, a bill that would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act cleared a procedural hurdle on Thursday, paving the way for its passage ahead of a looming deadline tonight when the intelligence community surveillance tool would expire. The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pushing for swift reauthorization of the law, which comes as Senate critics have had a myriad of complaints about Section 702, notably that the government can get access without a warrant to Americans’ data when they are interacting with foreign targets of the law.
Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) are pushing an amendment to require such a warrant, reigniting a battle that failed with a tie vote in the House.
The intelligence community has suggested the provision would be unworkable, and the Biden administration swiftly came out swinging against the amendment, calling it “a reckless policy choice contrary to the key lessons of 9/11 and not grounded in any constitutional requirement or statute.”
