In just a few months, House Speaker Mike Johnson has cemented his place among the weakest House leaders in its history. But unfortunately this Lewisian man is nonetheless powerful enough to single-handedly obstruct one of the most important matters of our time: bipartisan American aid to Ukraine to defend it against Vladimir Putin's murderous expansionism.
It is not as if Johnson is taking a principled position by not setting a date for a vote in the House. Oh no. To hear him tell it, he supports our Ukrainian allies and wants some kind of help. But Donald Trump doesn't — he's with Putin, as usual — and Johnson generally stands where the former president directs. It is no coincidence that the novice speaker is called “MAGA Mike.”
Opinion columnist
Jackie Calmes
Jackie Calmes takes a critical look at the national political landscape. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.
No case better illustrates than Ukraine the indecision and subservience to Trump that have become Johnson's hallmarks since October, when House Republicans ousted his predecessor, rejected several high-profile hopefuls, and then settled on him, exhausted by impasse.
Nor is there an issue that carries more dire consequences if Johnson does not change course — for Ukraine, for peace in Europe, and for America's security and international standing.
Johnson continues to ask that question, saying all the right supportive things — “Ukraine is the victim here. They were invaded,” he told reporters Wednesday — and they did nothing. President Biden’s call for help has remained weak throughout Johnson’s presidency. It has now been a month since The Senate voted overwhelmingly, 70 to 29, in favor of the $95 billion foreign aid package — $60 billion for Ukraine and the rest for Israel, Taiwan and the Palestinians in Gaza.
Give Johnson this much: He can handle a lot of pressure, at least when he's safely in Trump's corner. Recently, he has come under fire from all sides over Ukraine — from the president and Democrats in Congress, certainly, but also from pro-Ukraine Republicans and even from foreign leaders.
In recent days, members of both parties began trying to collect signatures from a majority of House members on two separate waiver petitions that would force a vote on aid to Ukraine. The demobilization strategy is rarely used, and even more rarely successful, because the action, by definition, is a slap in the face to the party leaders who packaged the legislation. But this may be one of the rare times.
Most Democrats have already signed the petition that simply requires a vote on the Senate bill, sending it to Biden. (The other petition calls for reducing the size of the bill, which would require separate Senate approval and more time.) Ukraine's supporters must get enough Republicans to oppose their party's leaders and sign on in order to achieve a majority. This is difficult, but doable: the Ukrainian case is strong, Johnson is not. Republicans don't fear him. To fend off that challenge, Johnson has suggested he is trying to craft an alternative to the Senate bill.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, Republican leader Mitch McConnell is fed up with Johnson's actions. McConnell has never publicly criticized House Republicans or told them how to run their chamber. So it was with his exasperation that he expressed himself to reporters on Tuesday, saying, “We don't have time for all this. We have a bill that got 70 votes in the Senate. Give the House members a chance to vote on it.”
That same day, visiting leaders from Poland, Ukraine's neighbor and NATO ally, publicly criticized Johnson for some undiplomatic statements. “Mr. Johnson’s failure to make a positive decision will cost thousands of lives and affect the fate of millions of people,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
After Johnson met privately with Polish President Andrzej Duda, he issued the kind of brash statements for which he is now famous. The statement did not talk about the draft aid bill for Ukraine, but declared that “America must remain united with our friends against those who threaten our security.”
What do these words mean if they are not an argument for more aid to Ukraine?
The part about “staying united with our friends” is particularly rich. Contrary to what Trump and America First Republicans would like us to believe, almost all European and NATO allies have provided greater aid to Ukraine than the United States, measured as a percentage of the size of countries' economies. They are terrified at the prospect of the United States withdrawing from the bloodiest battle in Europe since World War II.
As for “those who threaten our security,” Russia certainly looms large among those threats, at least for everyone except Trump and his sycophants.
Among them is Johnson. And this is the problem.
Johnson, who is stalling, insists that the Senate and House must first finish the long-overdue work of funding the government. But the annual spending bills will not be completed until Friday, after which Congress will take a 17-day recess. The Republican Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Alabama Representative Mike D. Rogers described Johnson's schedule as “reckless.”
While Johnson evades, Ukrainian forces are rationing ammunition and giving the Russians territory they can hold if they have a reliable pipeline of American-made weapons. Recently, CIA Director William Burns and other US intelligence officials warned Congress that Ukraine's losses would only worsen in the absence of US aid. That country abandoning Ukraine after pledges to the contrary would not only embolden a revanchist Russia, but would embolden the Chinese in their global ambitions.
As Biden said in his State of the Union address, Ukraine's essential lifeline “is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership of the world.”
Johnson will deny that this is what he wants. Let's see him prove it. As McConnell put it: “Let the House speak.”
If that happens – with a bipartisan vote for Ukraine – it will reflect the support of a majority of Americans. But first Johnson must get out of the way. Or it is paid.
@jackiekcalmes
