Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended his oversight of the passage of the Ukraine aid package, stating it was in accordance with the “will” of the House and insisting that “history will judge it well.”
The House of Representatives passed a $95 billion package on Saturday that provides foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and other U.S. allies. The measure was passed 311-112 despite vehement opposition from certain Republicans. The bill now heads to the Democrat-controlled Senate where it is expected to pass easily.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Mr. Johnson offered his justification for the passage of the bill. “I have to do my job. We did. I’ve done here what I believe to be the right thing and that is to allow the house to work its will. And as I’ve said, you do the right thing and you let the chips fall where they may.”
When asked by a reporter why the Ukraine aid took too long to approve and why it was passed now, Mr. Johnson said the House was busy with a “lot of important work” that had to be done.
“We had to get the government funded in our appropriations process. We had to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. We had a lot of important measures that had to be done and we got to this as quickly as we could. “
Mr. Johnson insisted that approving Ukraine aid has been “timely,” pointing out, “I think you’ve heard from leaders around the world, including in Ukraine, that this is being done on a timely basis. And the House had to have the time to deliberate and do this in the right manner.”
“I think we did our work here and I think history will judge it well.”
Many Republicans slammed the passage of the bill. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) pointed out that it was wrong for the United States to secure other nations’ borders while the country was facing an illegal immigration crisis on its border with Mexico.
“We’re sending $300 million for the state border guard services of Ukraine … yet won’t spend the same kind of money here to secure our own border,” she said.
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) said Mr. Johnson should have attached a “Remain in Mexico” policy requirement to the Ukraine bill.
“Instead what we have is something that’s going to further divide the Republican conference and … just make it harder as we go forward,” he said.
“Remain in Mexico” was a policy launched under the Trump administration that forced asylum seekers who were not from Mexico to camp in the country rather than in the United States while they waited to present their case in American courts.
After the Ukraine bill was passed, Mr. Johnson admitted that it wasn’t the “perfect legislation,” but it was the “best possible product” that Republicans could get with their thin House majority.
Mr. Johnson has made similar arguments before, noting that Republicans were in a vulnerable situation and not in a position to push extreme measures.
Speaking to CBN News earlier this month after facing criticism from party members for overseeing the passage of a $1.2 trillion spending bill, the House speaker said that not passing the spending bill would cost the party.
“They know over here that we have a one-vote margin, so I have virtually zero leverage to be able to negotiate and get a better package,” he said. Not passing the spending bill would have shut down the government and hurt the American people, who would then blame Republicans for the damage.
A shutdown would negatively affect the GOP’s chances of growing the majority in the chambers, as well as President Trump’s presidential chances, because “all of our fates in some sense are tied together.”
Ousting Johnson
Regarding the motion to vacate him from the post of House speaker, Mr. Johnson told reporters that he doesn’t “walk around this building being worried” about such matters.
The motion was filed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on March 22 while the House voted on the $1.2 trillion spending bill, accusing him of not standing up for Republican policies. “I filed a Motion to Vacate because the House needs a Speaker who’s able to win for Republicans and our constituents,” she said in an X post.
In an April 21 post after the Ukraine bill was passed, Ms. Greene accused Mr. Johnson of having “betrayed America once again.”
“After doing nothing to secure America’s Southern border, reauthorizing FISA to spy on the American people without a warrant, fully funding Joe Biden’s DOJ that has indicted President Trump 91 times, and giving Biden’s political gestapo a brand new FBI building bigger than the Pentagon, Speaker Johnson just sent $61 billion to fund the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine,” she wrote.
“House Republicans and the American people would be stronger without his disloyalty and betrayal of his principles. Now it’s time for my colleagues to go home and hear from their constituents. We need a new Speaker of the House!”
During a recent press conference with Mr. Johnson at his Mar-a-Lago residence, former President Donald Trump suggested that he would support Republicans approving aid for Ukraine in the form of a loan rather than as a gift. “We keep handing out gifts of billions and billions of dollars, and we’ll take a look at it,” he said.
At the event, the former president asserted his support for Mr. Johnson. “I stand with the speaker,” he said. “We’re getting along very well with the speaker, and I get along very well with Marjorie.”
In an April 18 Truth Social post before the House passed the Ukraine aid package, President Trump questioned why Europe wasn’t “giving more money to help Ukraine?”
“Why is it that the United States is over $100 Billion Dollars into the Ukraine War more than Europe, and we have an Ocean between us as separation! Why can’t Europe equalize or match the money put in by the United States of America in order to help a Country in desperate need?” he wrote.
“As everyone agrees, Ukrainian Survival and Strength should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it is also important to us! GET MOVING EUROPE! In addition, I am the only one who speaks for ‘ME’ and, while it is a total mess caused by Crooked Joe Biden and the Incompetent Democrats, if I were President, this War would have never started!”
From The Epoch Times
