House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Sunday Night in America With Trey Gowdy that he is working on a package which includes aid for Ukraine and plans to put it on the floor when the House returns. Johnson reiterated a suggestion made last month by former President Donald Trump that any aid to Ukraine be treated as a loan.
[Note: Last month Johnson refused to put a Senate-passed emergency foreign aid bill on the floor for a vote — a package that would have included $60 billion for Ukraine’s defense against a Russian invasion.]
Unfortunately, this is not April fools. Johnson, Schumer & the deep state are writing the Ukraine bill. Then Johnson will suspend rules to pass it.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 1, 2024
“We’re putting that product together & we’ll be moving it right after the district work period,” -Johnson.https://t.co/tO8aMOtUP9
House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) voiced his support for and optimism on Johnson’s new package (“I believe this is going to have overwhelming support in Congress, and we’ll put a bill on the president’s desk”), but fellow Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) voiced his disapproval.
Massie wrote on Monday: “Unfortunately, this is not April fools. Johnson, Schumer & the deep state are writing the Ukraine bill. Then Johnson will suspend rules to pass it.”
Note: In 2022, Massie was one of three members to oppose a resolution supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty after it was invaded by Russia, and in 2019 he was the only member of Congress to oppose an act that refused to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
More recently, on March 19, 2024, Massie was one of nine Republicans (including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Andy Biggs, Chip Roy) who voted against House Resolution 149, which “condemns the illegal abduction and forcible transfer of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
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