House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to put a bill providing additional aid to Ukraine up for a floor vote when Congress returns following its spring recess next month, sources on Capitol Hill told The Post — with Democrats offering to shield him from an effort by a member of his own conference to oust him.
The Senate passed a $95 billion bill to fund Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan last month, but Johnson (R-La.) had withheld the measure from a House vote until other legislation to fund the government through Sept. 30 was approved this past Friday.
More Republicans opposed than supported the final tranche of that federal funding for fiscal year 2024 — and far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) filed a motion to vacate Johnson’s speakership in protest.
But despite the threat to Johnson’s power, the House speaker will forge ahead with a separate bill to provide military assistance to Ukraine once the chamber is back in session April 9.
Greene said Friday she had support from other House Republicans to file the motion to vacate but had no “timeline” for an eventual vote.
“I filed this motion to vacate but I haven’t called it,” she told Fox News on Sunday. “This may take weeks, it may take months, it may not even happen until next Congress. But Speaker Johnson cannot remain as Speaker of the House.”
One Hill source suggested that passing Ukraine aid after the lower chamber’s Easter recess could trigger the motion — and added that some members had already been discussing potential replacements for Johnson.
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday that Johnson’s “commitment is to put it on the floor after Easter” but he was “in a very difficult spot.”
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) pledged Friday to vote to table Greene’s motion if it comes up. Sources told The Post Monday that other Democrats will back the speaker, but the extent of the support will hinge on the form of the Ukraine bill Johnson brings up for a vote.
“If he does the responsible thing, which is allowing members of Congress to vote on a bill that will pass and that is in our national security interests, and subsequent to that a non-serious actor that doesn’t want to govern brings a motion to vacate, yes I would motion to table in that circumstance,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) told CNN.
It also depends on how much of the aid is given as a loan to Kyiv, an idea supported by former President Donald Trump and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), but not any congressional Democrats.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and the White House have all pressured Johnson to take up the $95 billion measure the upper chamber passed without border security provisions in February.
However, one House Republican aide told The Post that Johnson would “allow himself to be vacated before he brought that bill to the floor.”
The source added adding that the GOP conference is getting behind a plan to provide Ukraine and Israel’s funding in the form of a loan.
“The Ukraine issue is really unique, and I have watched it go from two-thirds or more of the conference in favor to at least 55% to 60% opposed,” another aide noted.
Moderate House Republicans and Democrats have also floated a $66 billion proposal to fund Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and include a return to the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers.
Others stressed to The Post that Greene’s effort to vacate the chair is likely doomed no matter what happens with Ukraine aid, since almost all House Republicans would be averse to going through another speakership fight six months after the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
“I just don’t see any appetite to dump him and go through all this again,” predicted the House GOP aide who said most of the conference now opposed helping Ukraine — echoing a prediction McCarthy himself made Sunday morning.
“I don’t think the Democrats will go along with it too,” McCarthy told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
Eight Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) voted with 208 House Democrats to oust McCarthy, plunging House Republicans into 22 days of chaos until they elected Johnson unanimously to serve as their next speaker.
“McCarthy was defenestrated for specific and, I think, badly considered reasons,” added the second aide. “And that coalition of eight hasn’t been making the most trouble since.”
At the time, Gaetz accused McCarthy of having “created a secret side deal with President Biden on Ukraine” during a debate over an earlier government funding measure that passed with Democratic support.
Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
