Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) broke his months-long vow to never push foreign aid without securing America’s border when he gave President Joe Biden a $61 billion gift on Saturday afternoon.
As the vote on Ukraine funding came to an end, several Democrats and maybe a few Republicans applauded, yelled “Ukraine,” and waved Ukrainian flags.
Johnson criticized Democrats, saying, “Waving flags on the floor is a breach of decorum.”
311 votes to 112. In favor of the Ukraine component of the foreign aid. Republican Dan Mauser (R-PA), one representative, cast a present vote.
Johnson broke the Hastert Rule once more. A resounding majority of 112 Republicans voted against Johnson, while just 101 supported him.
Republicans in the House distributed a timeline documenting Johnson’s repeated demands that the House secure the southern border before moving forward with foreign aid legislation.
Early in March, following a meeting at the White House on February 28, Johnson started to openly waver.
His turnabout comes after months of preparation on the parts of the White House and establishment Republicans.
One anonymous lawmaker said that Johnson’s Ukraine bill would “give Biden a big foreign policy victory that has escaped him for a year.” “We have been working with him for months to try to get him there.”
Before Mike Johnson’s seat warmed up, the White House and intelligence agencies started reeducating him. Politico claims that “only days after Johnson became speaker, the administration convened several closed-door meetings for Johnson and other DC lawmakers to inform them of the deteriorating situation in Ukraine.”
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and CIA Director William Burns were among the officials present at such briefings.
A broader package of foreign aid, which excludes border security, will contain the Ukraine bill.
Earlier in the day, Johnson called a vote on a border security bill, but he shifted it under suspension of the rules, meaning it needed two-thirds of the members to pass.
It failed, receiving 215 votes in favor compared to 199 against.
We anticipate that the Senate will act on the measure soon after receiving it.
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