Representative Lauren Boebert is the latest to condemn House Speaker Mike Johnson's call for his Republican colleagues to provide tens of millions in aid to Ukraine.
Johnson is facing a predicament akin to his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted by House Republicans last year after GOP infighting reached a critical stage when McCarthy struck a deal with Democrats in passing a 45-day bill to avoid a government shutdown. Hard-right Republicans have no desire to approve the Senate's $95 billion bill package approved months ago, about $60 billion of which would provide aid to Ukraine. The rest would go toward helping Israel in its war with Hamas, and funds for Taiwan to combat Chinese aggression.
The current speaker, who took the gavel in October, said Wednesday that the House will put forward three separate bills "that will fund America's national security interests and allies in Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and Ukraine." A fourth bill, the REPO Act, referring to the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act, allows the U.S. president to confiscate sovereign assets of the Russian Federation that are directly or indirectly owned by the government, according to Lawfare.
"Speaker Mike Johnson flipped his position on Ukraine aid entirely after a meeting with the White House on February 28th," Boebert wrote on X on Thursday. "He owes America an honest explanation as to why he flipped. He broke his promise to us."
Newsweek reached out to Boebert and Johnson via email for comment on Thursday.
Speaker Mike Johnson flipped his position on Ukraine aid entirely after a meeting with the White House on February 28th.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) April 18, 2024
He owes America an honest explanation as to why he flipped.
He broke his promise to us.
GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene issued a motion to vacate the Louisiana Republican last month, and earlier this week received support from fellow Representative Thomas Massie.
On Wednesday evening, Greene—a staunch opponent to Ukraine funding who favors money to be earmarked for the U.S.-Mexico border—introduced three amendments to the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act. One states that "any member of Congress who votes in favor of this Act shall be required to conscript in the Ukrainian military."
Johnson is also considering raising the threshold of the number of votes required to vacate a speaker, which could be part of the bill package expected to be voted on this weekend.
A lifting of the threshold would be a reversal of what McCarthy agreed to in order to attain enough votes from House Republicans to become speaker after over a dozen voting rounds.
While Johnson has presented mixed messages on whether he'd go that route, most recently saying on CNN Wednesday that he "might" try to change it, it has given members like Boebert and Representative Matt Gaetz another reason to ponder vacating him.
Boebert on Thursday called it "a red line," while Gaetz said that he and members like Boebert have tried to avoid the "peril" of vacating another speaker in the span of just a few months.
"Our goal is to avoid a motion to vacate," he said, according to The Hill. "But we are not going to surrender that accountability tool, particularly in a time when we are seeing America's interests subjugated to foreign interests abroad."
Lawmakers upset with Johnson cornered him on the House floor Thursday morning to vent their frustrations, according to CNN, with Gaetz threatening to vacate while Republican Representative Derrick Van Orden interrupted the 20-minute spat, encouraging the hardliners to put a motion on the floor.
He reportedly called Gaetz "tubby" in the process in what was a heated discussion.
Steven Moore, founder of nonprofit Ukraine Freedom Project and former chief of staff in the U.S. House of Representatives who has lived in Ukraine since day five of the war, expressed his support for Johnson and his pushing of the legislation.
He told Newsweek on Thursday that the far right of the Republican Party is "spouting Russian propaganda."
"I think we are seeing the sane wing of the GOP stand up to the crazies," Moore said. "Gaetz, MTG [Marjorie Taylor Greene] and the Moscow Caucus have learned that if they stand up and shout about something—truth need not be a part of it—that they can raise lots of money online. If it wasn't Ukraine, it would be something else."
Moore added: "Bipartisanship is such a relic of a past era in this town that nobody knows what to think about it when it happens. But it is happening now. Democrats may vote for a Republican rule. This time around, when the motion to vacate is put on the floor, the Democrats will cooperate with the sane part of the Republican party rather than the crazies."
Update 04/19/24, 11:56 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Moore.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek reporter based in Michigan. His focus is reporting on Ukraine and Russia, along with social ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
