A growing chorus of Democrats say promising to protect Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from a budding conservative coup could be their best chance to secure military aid for Kyiv that has been stalled on Capitol Hill for months.
Johnson left Washington last week vowing to take up the explosive issue of foreign aid when lawmakers return in mid-April from a long holiday recess.
But hard-line conservatives in the GOP conference are firmly opposed to sending billions of dollars more to Ukraine, particularly if it’s not combined with efforts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has already filed a motion to oust the Speaker if he bucks the conservatives’ demands — a thinly veiled warning for Johnson to keep any form of Ukraine aid off the floor.
Democrats are increasingly stepping into this internal Republican clash, and many of them are vowing to shield Johnson from Greene’s motion to vacate if the Speaker acts on a Senate-passed foreign aid package, which includes $60 billion for Ukraine and billions more for Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
