Speaker Johnson, The House, & Ukraine Funding
A funding package focused mainly on military assistance for Ukraine and Israel, and humanitarian aid, has been stymied in the House of Representatives since the Senate passed a bipartisan $95-billion package in February by a 70-to-29 vote.
The legislation has been sitting in the House as Ukraine’s ammunition supply dwindles and the country becomes increasingly vulnerable to Russia’s ongoing military invasion.
The Senate-passed legislation includes $60 billion to support Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, $9.2 billion for humanitarian aid, and $4.8 billion to support our allies in the Indo-Pacific region.
The holdup has occurred as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), an inexperienced House leader, tries to figure out what to do.
Speaker Johnson has said he supports Ukraine military assistance, but, to date, has failed to spell out precisely what he intends to propose.
Johnson has been under intense pressure from the House Freedom Caucus, an extremist group to which he belongs, to either take no action on Ukraine funding or only act if legislation includes the Republican’s border proposal. This is legislation that congressional Democrats and President Biden will never accept.
At the same time, Johnson has been under pressure from House Republican hawks to get the Ukraine funding done.
Meanwhile, former President Trump, who holds great sway over Speaker Johnson, is proposing that funding for Ukraine be turned into a loan rather than a grant. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has suggested it could be a no-interest, waivable loan, which would be a “loan” in name only.
And then you have Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) strongly objecting to the loan idea and insisting that the only way to get military assistance quickly to Ukraine is for the House to pass the Senate-passed bill.
There are also an unknown number of House Democrats who say they won’t vote for a military assistance package for Israel unless that funding is conditioned on Israel ensuring that humanitarian aid is provided to Palestinians in Gaza.
Add to all this the fact that Speaker Johnson has not been able to pass House rules to get controversial legislation to the House floor and so he has been using the suspension calendar.
The suspension calendar is only supposed to be used for noncontroversial bills, an approach that has been abandoned. A bill placed on the suspension calendar is not amendable and needs voting support from two-thirds of the Members voting. This means it must have significant bipartisan support.
Confused yet? There’s more.
There are also two discharge petitions in play. The discharge petition is a rarely used procedure where a petition is circulated that would move a bill directly to the House floor. A discharge petition must be signed by 218 Representatives, a majority of Members, in order to bypass the Rules Committee and bring legislation directly to the floor for a vote.
One discharge petition, sponsored by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), would bring the Senate-passed bill to the House floor. It has 185 signers, but no Republicans.
A second discharge petition, sponsored by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), would bring a smaller assistance package to the House floor. It has 15 signers, including Democrats and Republicans.
Speaker Johnson said last week that he intends to send the Senate a Ukraine funding bill. But, Rep. Adam Smith, ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, noted: “Mike Johnson keeps telling everybody he’s going to get aid to Ukraine, he’s going to get aid to Israel. Nobody has any idea how.”
As we have seen, Johnson has had trouble getting legislation passed.
Johnson said he is considering splitting the Ukraine and Israel funding measures into two bills and bringing them up under the suspension calendar.
But Johnson also said “we always prioritize border security,” and if he puts the Republican’s border proposal in either the Ukraine or Israel funding bill, the legislation will never be accepted by congressional Democrats or the President.
Some feel that Speaker Johnson’s job is on the line depending on how he handles Ukraine funding.
Johnson has said the House will consider funding for Ukraine “as soon as the government is funded.”
“Soon,” however, won’t be quick. Congress is expected to begin a two-week recess as soon as it passes legislation to fund the government, which is expected in the next few days.
But, given the bipartisan majority support that exists in the House and Senate, I expect Ukraine military funding to be enacted in April, and Israel military funding to also pass.
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Fred’s Weekly Note appears on Thursdays in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s and other recent newsletters here. And, subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.
