House Democrats consider supporting Johnson on foreign aid and speakership vote
House Democrats weigh supporting Speaker Mike Johnson on foreign aid. Johnson proposed aid bills for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and defense. Some Republicans object to the plan. Democrats’ decision may impact Johnson’s speakership. Uncertainty surrounds the fate of the legislation. Democrats prioritize aiding allies but face challenges in the decision-making process. House Democrats are considering supporting Speaker Mike Johnson regarding foreign aid. Johnson has put forth aid bills for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and defense. However, some Republicans are against the plan. The Democrats’ choice could influence Johnson’s speakership. The future of the legislation remains uncertain. Democrats aim to help allies but encounter decision-making challenges.
House Democrats are weighing their options on whether to come to Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) rescue in pushing the foreign aid legislation to several U.S. allies over the finish line, with many saying it will wholly depend on how much of the Senate supplemental is included.
Johnson unveiled his long-awaited plan to bring foreign aid to the floor during a closed-door meeting on Monday, proposing to split aid into four separate bills supporting Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and other defense measures. However, a lack of border security provisions in the legislation has some House Republicans objecting to the plan, placing the fate on whether the bills pass in the hands of Democrats.
The plan is to combine all four bills into a single rules package before bringing them to the floor for individual votes. After that, the bills that are passed will be combined into a single piece of legislation to be voted on in the Senate, according to several lawmakers.
Without bill text, it is hard to narrow down how Democrats will feel about Johnson’s legislation. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has indicated that all options on passing foreign aid are on the table, placing Democrats at a crossroads of whether to let Republicans sink their own bill or throw Johnson a lifeline and save both the legislation and his speakership.
Hovering over Johnson is a motion to vacate from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced last month. On Tuesday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said he would co-sponsor Greene’s motion and called on Johnson to “pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did).”
If Democrats vote to save Johnson’s legislation, it could give Greene and Massie more ammunition to bring the motion to vacate forward — possibly leaving the Louisiana Republican’s speakership in the hands of Democrats.
Most Democrats have called on Johnson to bring the Senate foreign aid supplemental legislation to the floor, which includes aid to Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, as well as $9.5 billion in humanitarian aid to Gaza and other nations.
House Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Ted Lieu (D-CA) said during a Tuesday caucus press conference that if Johnson’s foreign plan is without one of the Senate supplemental’s four components — aid to Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and Taiwan — then it is “highly unlikely Democrats would support it.”
Some Democrats are worried that splitting the bills into four could have significant consequences for U.S. allies.
“I’m very concerned about Ukraine aid, and I don’t have confidence in the speaker’s ability to get that through,” Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) told the Washington Examiner. “And so I’m concerned that cleaving it off is going to mean that the Ukraine aid won’t pass.”
It is unclear whether the legislation will be brought to the floor through a rule vote, the typical House procedure, or under suspension, which does not require a rule vote. A rule is historically passed along party lines and rarely fails on the House floor. However, House conservatives have weaponized the procedure several times over the last year, tanking key pieces of legislation and stalling action on the floor.
Given several Republicans are either on the fence or outright a “no” on the rule vote, Democrats could elect not to save Republicans and instead focus all efforts on gaining the necessary signatures to advance a discharge petition to bring the Senate bill to the floor.
Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) emphasized that Democrats do not want to “sink” any plans that “deliver aid to our allies.”
“Our focus is on delivery,” Aguilar said. “Like I mentioned, we’re less concerned about what process is used.”
However, he warned that time is of the essence.
“But this needs to happen by the end of the week,” the caucus chair added. “There is some urgency here.”
House Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-MA), who is leading the discharge petition, said he has gotten “no indication” on when the committee will meet to discuss the aid legislation.
“So I’ve been told that, you know, we may be here until Friday night or later,” McGovern said. “I don’t know what that means for when they want to reconvene the Rules Committee.
“But we’ve been talking about this for a long, long time, so that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing just shows now they’re in disarray,” McGovern added.
Balint said following the Democrats’ morning conference meeting that the party had not talked about Johnson’s legislation “at all” because they had not seen the bill text. However, she is confident that the conference will work toward finding a path forward on the aid.
“Certainly, we have been the caucus that has shown up to do the work all year, and we will, you know, continue to do that,” Balint said. “But I think we’re all just waiting to see what it looks like.”
She added that she is frustrated with House Republicans stalling foreign aid talks and placing the House in a time crunch again.
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“I can’t believe that we are months and months into this, when Ukraine needed this money, you know, months ago,” Balint said. “And so I am filled with so much frustration and anger that once again, like, we’re going to be here Friday night, at the 11th hour, it’s like, give me a break.
“You know, for [Johnson] to say right now, it’s time to ‘do our job for democracy’ — no. It’s late to do our job for democracy,” the Vermont congresswoman added.
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