Marjorie Taylor Greene rips Speaker Johnson’s plan to tackle Ukraine aid: ‘Cruel joke’
Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene unloaded on House Speaker Mike Johnson Monday after he publicly unveiled plans to hold a vote on some form of aid to Ukraine later this month.
“If Speaker Johnson gives another $60 billion to the defense of Ukraine’s border after he FULLY FUNDED Biden’s deadly open border, the cruel joke would be on the American people,” Greene (R-Ga.), who recently threatened to move to oust Johnson, fumed on X.
“And it won’t be April Fools.”
Greene’s warning came hours after Johnson (R-La.) articulated three possible ways to wrangle aid to Kyiv through the closely divided House.
Those three paths include a loan to Ukraine, seizing and liquidating frozen Russian assets, and leveraging the Biden administration to lift a pause on approvals for new liquid natural gas export terminals in exchange for approving the aid.
Johnson told The Post last month that he felt it was imperative to wrap up the appropriations process for fiscal year 2024 before delving into the Ukraine stalemate.
Congress finished off the appropriations process last month, leading Greene to offer a motion to vacate the chair, which would remove Johnson from the speakership if approved.
“Look, Marjorie Taylor Greene filed the motion. It’s not a privileged motion so it doesn’t move automatically; it’s just hanging there,” Johnson told Fox News’ “Sunday Night in America With Trey Gowdy.”
“And she’s frustrated. She and I exchanged text messages even today. We’re going to talk early next week.”
Last October, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) brought up a motion to vacate former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) during a spending row. Seven Republican rouble-rousers and a solid bloc of Democrats joined him and removed McCarthy from the speakership Oct. 3.
This time, Gaetz doesn’t appear to have much of an appetite for a mutiny against Johnson and some Democrats have publicly toyed with the idea of tossing the speaker a lifeline if he brings up Ukraine aid.
“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing,” Greene further seethed on X Monday alongside a video showing the arrest of a MS-13 gang member.
“Speaker Johnson completely surrendered all power we had in the House to stop horrendous crimes like child rape by illegals when he fully funded Biden’s deadly open border without a fight.”
“These are not the perfect pieces of legislation that you and I and Marjorie would draft if we had the ability to do it differently. But with the smallest margin in US history, we’re sometimes going to get legislation that we don’t like,” Johnson told Gowdy Sunday night.
“I think all of my other Republican colleagues recognize this as a distraction from our mission. Again, the mission is to save the republic.”
Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the lower chamber is set to shrink to 217-213 when Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) departs later this month.
For months, Democrats and President Biden have hounded Johnson to take up some assistance package to Ukraine as it suffers setbacks on the battlefield against Russian invaders.
Biden had asked Congress to replenish aid last August and in February, the Senate passed a $95 supplemental package that allocated some $60 billion for Ukraine.
Amid that pressure campaign, Johnson spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky late last month and assured him that Congress would tackle the Ukraine issue.
The House of Representatives is set to gavel back into session on April 9 following its Easter recess.
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