WASHINGTON — For six months, the far right wing of the Republican House majority has threatened the job of Speaker Mike Johnson if he failed to follow their ideological demands.
Repeatedly, they’ve promised to fire the religious conservative from Benton from his position as the Republican Party’s highest-ranking elected official if he didn’t toe their line. Johnson bobbed and weaved to get legislation passed, often with the help of Democrats. He found ways to navigate around hardliners who wanted deep budget cuts and restrictions on how spies did their work.
The right’s red line, however, seems to be further funding for Ukraine’s fast-diminishing chances of successfully fighting off a Russian invasion.
If Johnson allows a vote on a Ukrainian lifeline, the party’s right flank has promised to activate a removal resolution, called a motion to vacate, that will require a vote within 48 hours on whether he should continue as speaker.
That’s the same method the same factions used in October to remove Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, R-California, as speaker, for the same reasons Johnson is now in trouble.
Unless Democrats come to his rescue — and assuming the threats aren’t idle — Johnson would be ousted if only two or three Republicans, depending on when the vote is taken, approve the motion.
After a particularly bruising Wednesday, Johnson told reporters that despite the sword of Damocles hanging over him, he would press for Ukraine aid.
“Look, history judges us for what we do,” Johnson 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.”
Hoping to mitigate at least some of the conservative anger, Johnson broke up the various parts of a Senate-passed bill that would appropriate $95 billion in aid to Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine into separate instruments that together add up to pretty much the same amount. He added sidecar legislation that would also allow House votes on conservative wants such as banning TikTok and strengthening security on the Southern border.
Right-wingers already have refused his border security bill, and they’re not thrilled with the method Johnson has chosen to get money for Ukraine’s war effort.
It’s “an inflated fantasy,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who has vowed to activate her motion to vacate if Johnson puts a Ukraine aid bill before the full House.
Johnson plans to do just that, perhaps on Saturday.
President Joe Biden said he would sign the bills in Johnson’s package if they cleared the House and Senate.
Interestingly, as a backbencher, Johnson adamantly opposed Ukraine funding, the issue on which he now is gambling his political career.
He voted against the 2022 Ukraine supplemental appropriation. He blocked tacking on Ukraine assistance in the National Defense Authorization Act, and opposed the Ukraine Security Assistance and Oversight Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2023.
In a May 14, 2022, statement, Johnson said: “We should not be sending another $40 billion abroad when our own border is in chaos, American mothers are struggling to find baby formula, gas prices are at record highs and American families are struggling to make ends meet, without sufficient oversight over where the money will go.”
On Feb. 23, 2023, he posted: “American taxpayers have sent over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine in the last year. They deserve to know if the Ukrainian government is being entirely forthcoming and transparent about the use of this massive sum of taxpayer resources.”
That was then.
As House speaker, Johnson is second in the presidential line of succession. He receives national security briefings, which Johnson says has led to a change in his thinking.
“I think providing lethal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important. I really do,” Johnson said. “I believe Xi (Jinping, president of China), and Vladimir Putin (president of Russia), and Iran really is an axis of evil. I think they really are in coordination on this. I think Vladimir Putin would continue to march 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.”
Johnson’s son is entering the U.S. Naval Academy in the fall.
“This is a live-fire exercise for me, as it is so many American families. This is not a game. It’s not a joke. We can’t play politics with this,” Johnson said. “To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys.”