Speaker Mike Johnson said he will “take personal risk” by pushing ahead with his plans for a House vote on foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as fellow Republican representatives continue to call for him to vacate the chair.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on sending additional aid to Ukraine and Israel on Saturday as part of the $95 billion military funding. The package is divided into four bills, the third issuing funding for Taiwan. The fourth includes sanctions on Russia, China and Iran as well as measures to allow the seizing of frozen Russian central bank assets to aid Ukraine.
Seeking to appease the more right-leaning flank of the Republican Party, Johnson announced a fifth bill to provide further funding for security measures at the southern border with Mexico—a policy many in the GOP have made clear is a top priority. Each bill requires a separate vote.
Asked by reporters why he was willing to potentially lose his job by moving forward with his foreign aid plan in the Capitol Wednesday evening, Johnson responded: “My philosophy is you do the right thing and you let the chips fall where they may. If I operated out of fear of a motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job.”
“History judges us for what we do. This is a critical time right now—a critical time on the world stage,” he said.
Newsweek approached Speaker Johnson’s office for comment via email and outside of normal working hours.
Johnson’s move comes after months of political deadlock that has seen the original Senate bill on the $95 billion aid package sidelined since February. The upper chamber’s proposal designated $60 billion of military aid to Ukraine, $14 billion to Israel, $8 billion to Taiwan and around $10 billion in humanitarian assistance.
It also follows months of lobbying from U.S. allies warning that fresh military aid from Washington was necessary to prevent Ukraine’s defeat at the hands of Russia.
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The speaker’s decision to now send the legislation to the House floor comes with severe political risk. His party’s right flank has indicated it would move to oust him as speaker if he proceeds with the foreign aid package—a move it successfully made in October when Johnson’s predecessor Kevin McCarthy was removed from office.
Two Republican members of Congress have so far publicly called on Johnson to hand over the gavel. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said he would support an effort to remove Johnson and called on him to resign, joining Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia who filed a resolution to vacate the chair in March.
Johnson will likely need support from the Democratic benches to push the legislation through and to stay on as speaker.
Following the publishing of the draft legislation, President Joe Biden said in a statement that he “strongly” supported the package and called on the House and Senate to back the bills.
“I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: we stand with our friends, and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed,” Biden said.
“I could make a selfish decision and do something that’s different but I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing,” Johnson said. “I think providing legal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important—I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten.
“I believe Xi [Jinping] and Vladimir Putin and Iran really are and axis of evil. I think they are in coordination on this.
“I think that Vladimir Putin would continue marching through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Balkans next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies.
“To put it bluntly I would rather send bullets to Ukraine that American boys. My son is going to begin in the Naval academy this fall. This is a live fire exercise for me as it is for so many American families.”
The speaker said the House cannot “play politics” over the aid funding and added he would “do the right thing” and “allow an opportunity for every single member of the House to vote their conscience and their will.”
“I’m willing to take personal risk for that because we have to do the right think and history will judge us,” he said.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
