Speaker Mike Johnson told Republican senators during their closed-door retreat Wednesday that he was committed to finding a path ahead for Ukraine aid in the House of Representatives, a sign GOP senators took to mean that aid to the embattled country isn’t yet dead in Congress.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, told CNN that Johnson made clear “he understood the importance and the urgency of it and was looking for a path forward.”
But Johnson’s message to senators also indicated the package he is looking at is unlikely to look like the $95 billion package the Senate passed. Republicans have been looking at using some kind of loan program, which wouldn’t outright give equipment to Ukraine, but would be part of a kind of lend-lease program.
CNN reported earlier this month that Johnson has been working closely with House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, to find a way to craft a Ukraine aid package that could include elements like McCaul’s REPO Act, which would seize Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine – and perhaps a way to include some of the aid in a loan program, an idea originally floated by former President Donald Trump.
The goal of McCaul and Johnson’s efforts was always to get the bill to the floor by late March or early April.
Johnson echoed his comments to senators Wednesday at the GOP retreat in West Virginia, telling reporters that the package the House puts together “may not look exactly like the Senate supplemental” and that the House GOP is “processing through all the various options right now.”
Still, Johnson’s assurances to Senate Republicans come as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has made no secret he wants the House to take up the Senate package now and stop dithering.
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