House Discharge Petition is happening

[GeneralMacArthur]

How many more do we need?  217 is a majority right now with 3 vacant seats, and the Dems have 213.  Six R votes makes 219.  But presumably Tlaib/Omar/Bush aren't going to vote for Israel aid.

[Torie]

Vacant seats don't count. You need 218 signatures. I just looked it up.

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1767665330283794624

Republicans to sign onto the discharge petition, so far:

Brian Fitzpatrick (Penn.)

Mike Lawler (NY)

Don Bacon (Neb.)

Nick LaLota (NY)

Anthony D'Esposito (NY)

Joe Wilson (SC)

https://clerk.house.gov/DischargePetition/2024031210?CongressNum=118

Two more Republicans signed on today:

Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Ore.)

Jennifer Kiggans (VA)

[Woody]

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://twitter.com/JackDetsch/status/1768024060510835006?s=20
Johnson screwing over Ukraine is directly screwing over our military too 😡

[Hindsight was 2020]

So now Johnson is going to roll out a House version of Ukraine aid which is just the lend lease program which is something he could of just renewed all the way back in December 🤬
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4530355-johnson-signals-shift-on-ukraine-to-gop-senators/

[Beet]

Trump has changed his position on Ukraine aid and now supports lend-lease, with the option of no repayment. Which would be essentially the same as aid. E.g. the same position he took on foreign aid in general a while ago. Or maybe that was his position all along, who knows?

Either way, the Republicans could have gotten what they're offering today plus a ton more powers to enforce our immigration laws, which is what Biden was offering, but then Trump decided to trip over himself and n-ke the deal because he was afraid it was hurt his chances in the election. Now the end result is going to be very similar but they get nothing.

[Storr]

"Johnson says he expects to take up Ukraine aid with Democratic votes"

“I think it is a stand-alone, and I suspect it will need to be on suspension,” Johnson said of foreign assistance."

"The suspension calendar requires a two-thirds majority to approve legislation on the House floor — meaning Johnson would need a substantial number of Democratic votes. He has taken that approach with many contentious measures so far in his speakership.

He added in the interview that splitting Ukraine and Israel aid into two separate bills was “under consideration.”

The speaker’s remarks are the most definitive he has made so far on his plans for tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid that has languished in Congress for many weeks, even after the Senate cleared its own bipartisan package last month. They represent the clearest move Johnson has made to commit to a floor vote on Ukraine aid, despite significant disinterest in his own party in any new funding for Kyiv’s efforts against Russia.

Johnson has publicly stated that the House would turn to foreign aid after a government funding plan that’s expected to come to the floor of both chambers of Congress next week, with a partial shutdown deadline looming on March 22. While the political challenges of passing that funding bill have sparked questions about attaching foreign aid to a spending bill, he ruled out the idea."

[Hindsight was 2020]

Just pass the senate bill you perverted freak! 😡🤬

[Antonio the Sixth]

So nothing has come of it yet...

[Torie]

The silence is deafening. Pathetic.

[Agafin]

Hasn't Ken Buck signed the democratic petition?

[Torie]

Yes. Three more Pubs to go.

[Torie]

It seems like after the Easter recess, the the Dems help, the Dems are going to protect johnson from MTG’s vacate petition and then there will finally be action on Ukraine aid. Wheels within wheels.

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.

“If the choice is between Ukraine aid and providing a vote to stop a motion to vacate, or no Ukraine aid, I think there’s a lot of Democrats who would be willing to assist in getting it done,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said Wednesday by phone.

Himes, the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, was quick to stress he’ll support whatever approach is ultimately adopted by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who has so far declined to say if he’d help rescue Johnson from a potential right-wing revolt.


“We’re very conscious that we’re not going to freelance in such a way as to put Leader Jeffries in a bind,” Himes said.

But Himes also promoted the Johnson rescue strategy — an extraordinary two-step dance aligning the conservative Speaker with some of his Democratic critics — as the most viable option if Congress hopes to adopt Ukraine aid before November. The alternatives, including a pair of discharge petitions designed to force foreign aid to the floor, simply don’t have the bipartisan support to be successful, he said.


“I think it’s the only strategy,” Himes said.

“For whatever reason, the 20 Republicans that I heard take blood oaths in Munich about … how we must do absolutely everything to get Ukraine aid passed — it turned out that ‘absolutely everything’ didn’t include signing a discharge petition,” he continued.

“So given the fact that ‘absolutely everything’ for lots of Republicans doesn’t include taking the massive political risk of signing a discharge petition — which nobody’s ever heard of half a mile away from the Capitol dome — I think that the Speaker putting the bill on the floor, and our insulating him from the tender mercies of Marjorie Taylor Greene, is probably the only option.”


Some rank-and-file Democrats are already jumping on board.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), a first-term representative and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Hill he will not support Greene’s motion to vacate under any circumstances — ”I will never side with Marjorie Taylor Greene ever. I will never turn the People’s House over to her” — but if another member tries to remove Johnson, he would be inclined to protect the Speaker if the ouster was prompted by moving aid for Ukraine.

“If you’re telling me Speaker Johnson comes out with a bill that’s going to stand by Ukraine and Israel, do humanitarian aid for … Palestinians in Gaza, and then there’s a motion to vacate him over that, no, I’m not gonna support that,” he added.


Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said last month that “Democrats would support Johnson” if he moves the Senate’s national security supplemental. And Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) told The Hill last week he will “do whatever helps the Caucus’s priorities for our country,” but noted the ouster effort “may provide the best shot at getting needed aid to Ukraine.”

The Democrats’ approach to Johnson’s fate marks a sharp departure from the party’s sentiments toward his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was removed from power in October with unanimous Democratic backing. A number of Democrats said afterward they had offered to help McCarthy survive the expulsion vote, but the cocksure California Republican declined. Relegated to backbencher status, he resigned from Congress in December.

McCarthy, for his part, denied the notion he turned away Democratic support. During an extensive exit interview in his Capitol hideaway shortly before he resigned from the House, the California Republican facetiously told reporters “I’m sure I didn’t ask” when pressed on Democratic claims that he did not request their help.


Speculation has swirled for weeks that Democrats — if faced with another GOP motion to vacate — would consider saving Johnson if he agrees to move aid for Ukraine. Although the Senate passed its foreign aid package with support from 70 senators, including 22 Republicans, Johnson has refused to consider the bill. The impasse has infuriated Kyiv’s supporters on both sides of the aisle, who say the aid is urgently needed given Ukraine’s waning weapons arsenal.

Last month, centrist Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) circulated a resolution that would make it more difficult for conservative hard-liners to oust Johnson from the top job, but made it contingent on the chamber staging a vote on legislation to send aid to Ukraine, Israel and other allies abroad.

As the House inches closer to another potential ouster of a sitting Speaker, that speculation has kicked into overdrive.


“I’m certain that there is a huge number of folks, including me, that will have just about any conversation to ensure that we get this national security supplemental done,” Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) told The Hill when asked about saving Johnson in exchange for moving Ukraine aid.

Greene, to be sure, has not yet forced a vote on her motion to vacate — she only filed the resolution Friday — and she has not indicated when she plans to pull the trigger, saying it will be a “rolling issue.”

But the firebrand Republican strongly suggested the battle over Ukraine aid could get the ball rolling on her effort to oust Johnson, telling reporters the Speaker “should not bring funding for Ukraine” to the floor when asked last week if moving assistance for Kyiv would prompt a vote on her resolution.


Other hard-line conservatives are sounding a similar note, though none have publicly joined Greene in calling for Johnson’s ouster.

“The Speaker of the House should not put a Ukraine bill on the floor unless, or until, we have meaningful reforms to deal with our wide-open border. And we’ve been very clear about that. And I think that it will be very clear to the Speaker that that would be a mistake, to go down that road, and our job is to make that clear,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said Wednesday in an interview on John Fredericks’s radio show.

Heading into next month’s debate, Johnson has floated a vague outline of his plan, telling Senate Republicans the House will move its own Ukraine package and send it back to the upper chamber. But the details of his strategy remain unclear, as does the question of how many Republicans would support his removal if his efforts triggered a vote on a motion to vacate.

Himes, for his part, predicted the number of Democrats willing to jump across the aisle to keep Johnson in power would be plenty to save the Speaker — if he ensures passage of the disputed foreign aid.

“So long as [Leader Jeffries] is … OK with this strategy, I think we’ll provide however many [votes] are needed,” he said. “My own guess would be — how many members are there of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s merry band? Fifteen? Twenty?

“We could easily provide that number in a motion to vacate.”

Categories: House, News
 

[ProudModerate2]

So what is circulating this weekend, is that Speaker Johnson has been discussing with his lieutenants how they are going to move forward with proper legislation to fund Ukraine. Exactly what route that will take is still in question (I guess).

[Woody]

Democrats grumble over Mike Johnson's Ukraine aid proposal

Democrats are groaning at a plan floated by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to pass aid to Ukraine — including some key moderates.

Why it matters: With an aid bill likely to require a two-thirds majority and Republicans largely opposed to Ukraine aid, the vast majority of Democrats will likely need to support the package for it to pass.

That includes the REPO Act, a bill supported by some Democrats to confiscate frozen Russian assets in the U.S. Those assets could be used to help fund the aid to Ukraine, Johnson said.
Johnson also raised the ideas of structuring the aid package as a loan and reversing the Biden administration's pause of liquified national gas export approvals — neither of which have significant Democratic buy-in.

Johnson has refused to hold a vote on the $95 billion Senate bill, much to the chagrin of Democrats.

Landsman noted that a modified House bill would have to go back to the Senate, which he said "may or may not pass it," thus delaying the process.

Source: https://www.axios.com/2024/04/02/ukraine-aid-mike-johnson-vote

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Just pass the senate bill you perverted freak! 😡🤬

[Storr]

"Speaker Johnson signals that Ukraine and Israel aid will only get through the House if there are border policies attached.

“Any funding of the President’s supplemental request should be premised on meaningful policy … at our southern border.”"

https://twitter.com/stephen_neukam/status/1775947400974131339

[Arizona Iced Tea]

"Speaker Johnson signals that Ukraine and Israel aid will only get through the House if there are border policies attached.

“Any funding of the President’s supplemental request should be premised on meaningful policy … at our southern border.”"

https://twitter.com/stephen_neukam/status/1775947400974131339

Why don't Dems just pass HR2 in exchange for Ukraine aid?

[Ferguson97]

Why don't Dems just pass HR2 in exchange for Ukraine aid?

we called your bluff on that and you said no

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

"Speaker Johnson signals that Ukraine and Israel aid will only get through the House if there are border policies attached.

“Any funding of the President’s supplemental request should be premised on meaningful policy … at our southern border.”"

https://twitter.com/stephen_neukam/status/1775947400974131339

[Arizona Iced Tea]

Why don't Dems just pass HR2 in exchange for Ukraine aid?

we called your bluff on that and you said no

That wasn't HR 2. That was the uniparty immigration bill that made the problem worse.

[MasterJedi]

Why don't Dems just pass HR2 in exchange for Ukraine aid?

we called your bluff on that and you said no

That wasn't HR 2. That was the uniparty immigration bill that made the problem worse.

See, the thing is Republicans don’t want to govern and have solutions. They don’t want to fix the boarder because it helps Biden. They’ve said this, nothing will be passed and then when Trump gets in they won’t want to fix it because half the party needs the slave labor and the other half doesn’t want to give up the issue.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Johnson’s big plan is out: 4 separate bills for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and the Tiktok ban. Vote them in succession and send it as a bundle package for the senate. Ukraine’s funding went from $60 to $50 billion and will be funded via a combination of lend lease and domestic Russian assets seizure but an uptick in the PDA/replenishment vs Biden’s package so direct aid can be sped up a bit (and Biden can now touch the remains PDA he currently has). This is going to be confusing as hell to follow during the vote and it’s frustrating as hell this took so long but on the bright side if this works out this will be a good lifeline for Ukraine this year and gives the EU more time to ramp up if by 25 god forbid we drop off aid completely
https://twitter.com/MZanona/status/1779998710392365374
https://twitter.com/LisaDNews/status/1780005846090445256

[Storr]

"NEWS YOU CAN USE — likely added vote day

Speaker Johnson predicts FRIDAY evening votes… which could spill to weekend if bill text doesn’t come out tomorrow night"

https://twitter.com/haleytalbotcnn/status/1780016597991637485