Speaker Johnson has a plan to move forward on Ukraine aid while trying to maintain his position as speaker, which is essentially to loan the money to Ukraine, which can be paid back by seizing and selling Russian assets which have been frozen since the beginning of the war:
BBC – The Louisiana congressman told Fox News he would push the House – which has the narrowest of Republican majorities – to structure new Ukraine support in the form of loans.
To help cover the costs he suggested authorising the US government to seize and sell Russian assets frozen since the start of the Ukraine war.
“If we can use the seized assets of Russian oligarchs to allow the Ukrainians to fight them, that’s just pure poetry,” said Mr Johnson.
An estimated $300bn (£239bn) in Russian central bank assets have been frozen – although most of this is under European, not American, control.
As an additional sweetener for his Republican colleagues, he also proposed tying the passage of Ukraine aid to legislation ending a hold on new liquefied natural gas export authorisations. The hold was imposed by the Biden administration in January at the behest of environmental activists.
But MTG doesn’t think this is a good idea at all and warns Johnson not to move forward with this, suggesting she will bring her impeachment motion to the floor:
New — Spoke with Marjorie Taylor Greene this afternoon who said she's "not backing off at all" on her push to oust Mike Johnson, whom she plans to speak with on Friday.
And she warned him not to move on Ukraine — particularly under suspension of the rules — and said if he…
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 3, 2024
Spoke with Marjorie Taylor Greene this afternoon who said she’s “not backing off at all” on her push to oust Mike Johnson, whom she plans to speak with on Friday.
And she warned him not to move on Ukraine — particularly under suspension of the rules — and said if he does, “that’s going to move the needle.”
MTG says as Johnson tries to cobble together a Ukraine package: “Funding Ukraine is probably one of the most egregious things that he can do.”
She rejected GOP warnings that ousting him could lead to Jeffries as speaker, calling it a “stupid lie.”
All as she dismissed concerns that doing so could lead to a more moderate speaker, attacking Johnson as “Mitch McConnell’s twin and worse. … There’s not even any daylight between him and Nancy Pelosi at this point.”
She wouldn’t comment on her conversations with Trump on the subject, nor would she say how many Rs are backing her effort.
Well it won’t take many to back her effort to oust Johnson so I’m sure she’s already got the votes. The question is getting the votes to replace Johnson. We’ve been through this scenario twice now and it ain’t pretty.