After the Senate Tuesday morning passed a near-$100 billion foreign aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that does not at all address the U.S. border, some Republicans fear that leverage is slipping away as Johnson works to rally the GOP's extremely small House majority.
Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, hailed passage of the $95.3 billion bill as a bipartisan victory as 22 Republicans voted in favor. In contrast, Johnson said the Senate "failed to meet the moment."
The new bill comes days after the Senate failed to pass a bill that combined foreign aid with border reform.
Sen. Ron Johnson and other GOP senators have criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (right) for in essence trashing the wishes of his party.
Sixty billion of the bill is designated for Ukraine in its war against Russia, a longtime Democratic priority. Republicans, generally – including Speaker Johnson – have been less enthusiastic on Ukraine funding. As Johnson wrote on X late Monday:
"The Senate's foreign aid bill is silent on the most pressing issue facing our country. The mandate of national security supplemental legislation was to secure America's own border before sending additional foreign aid around the world. It is what the American people demand and deserve.
"Now, in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters. America deserves better than the Senate's status quo."
Good: House Republicans need to get behind Johnson
Rep. Bob Good (R-Virginia) praised Johnson on American Family Radio Tuesday and said House Republicans need to let the Speaker know they're behind him.
"I'm encouraged by the Speaker's remarks that the bill is essentially 'dead on arrival' in the House," Good told show host Jenna Ellis. "He is holding his ground seemingly, at least as far as the rhetoric goes. I urged some of my colleagues yesterday: We've got to help him hold the line. We've got to let him know we've got his back. We've got to let him know we are resolved to stand with him. We don't have a hundred billion dollars to send anywhere."
The bill provides $14 billion for Israel in its war against Hamas but potentially offsets that with $9.2 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza. Money for Gaza, or large portions of it, often finds its way to Hamas, according to reports.
"I don't support further Ukraine aid, but the makeup of the package, I mean it's $9 billion for Gaza. Does Israel want us to send $9 billion into Gaza while they are trying to rid Gaza of Hamas? Do we have any reason to believe that Hamas would not control that and that it would not eventually get to Hamas?" Good asked.
Johnson told Washington Watch host Tony Perkins on Monday that the Biden administration's disastrous exit from Afghanistan "emboldened people like" Russian President Vladimir Putin and played a large part in creating conditions that now exist in Ukraine.
Johnson said Americans have a history of supporting the fighting efforts of freedom-loving people but that southern border reform should be the first priority of Congress – not a war in which Ukraine, he says, has little chance of winning.
"The same justification was used in Vietnam, the domino theory. If we don't bomb the you-know-what out of the Vietnamese people communism is going to spread all over the world. What was the result – 58,000 lives lost in Vietnam? What was the result in Afghanistan? What is the result in Ukraine? Just death and destruction. We need to rethink our policy. We need to rethink what our foreign entanglements have resulted in and be honest about it," the Speaker said.
Johnson argued that honesty has been missing in the GOP's Senate leadership. The border, he said, represents a "clear and present danger" to the United States. Yet in the wake of the failed Senate bill that did address the border – though far from Republicans' liking – Sen. Mitch McConnell "entered into secret negotiations that resulted in a bill that was worse than doing nothing," Johnson explained.
Johnson is concerned that the little negotiating power held by the GOP – leveraging Ukraine funding for border reform – has been "frittered away" by McConnell, and that has turned up the heat on Mike Johnson in the House.
"The only leverage we had was Ukraine. It makes no sense. It's [been] an incredibly stupid negotiating strategy in secret when the American people support us in trying to secure the border. It's a political debacle," Johnson said.
Security is important, but what about our debt?
While Congressman Good stands behind Johnson, he's unclear why any Republicans need to be rallied when Ukraine funding and border security are in a faceoff. Security concerns for the U.S. as illegals pour across the border should be reason enough, he says, for the votes to come together; but adding almost $100 billion to the $34 trillion national debt is unconscionable. The debt is Good's first priority.
"If we continue to borrow and print money and further exacerbate our debt situation, we make it impossible for us to respond to true crises in the future. We've got to start with our debt situation. I haven't seen the transparency and accountability for the $113 billion we've already sent," he lamented.
And making matters even worse, Good noted, Ukraine is not a democracy.
"Ukraine does suppress freedoms over there that we value here in the United States. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, and these are going to be border countries for hundreds of years going forward. I certainly don't support us buying more money to send overseas to Ukraine, especially with our debt situation and especially with our own border security and the weakness of our own military under this administration," Good stated.
