A staffer for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is sharing an op-ed throughout Congress calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to sacrifice his speakership to advance a Ukraine-first aid bill, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.
An email from a McConnell staffer reviewed by Breitbart News shared an op-ed by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. In essence, for the sake of alleged national security risks of Russia, Hamas, and China, the radio host calls on Johnson to sacrifice his speakership to help pass the bipartisan, establishment, $95 billion foreign aid package:
Speaker Mike Johnson may well lose his gavel if he forces through the Supplemental as the GOP as a whole wants. The Knucklehead Caucus that toppled former Speaker Kevin McCarthy is still there, still ready and able to fundraise off of chaos and clicks, and it may throw a tantrum when Ukraine aid passes, and mount yet another mindless attack on itself.
National security is serious stuff, however, the most serious stuff. Sacrifices may have to be made, including by the Speaker. Johnson needs to step up come what may and guarantee the country’s defenses and its alliances. [Emphasis added]
In the email reviewed by Breitbart News, the op-ed was among many news articles and statements on the foreign aid package the McConnell staffer shared that “might be of interest.”
The Senate on Tuesday morning passed the controversial foreign aid package despite staunch opposition from Senate conservatives.
Now, in an interview with Politico released on Tuesday, McConnell calls on Johnson to vote on the Ukraine aid package. In the interview, he said he would not tell Johnson “how to do it”:
We’ve heard all kinds of rumors about whether the House supports Ukraine or doesn’t. It seems to me that the easy way to solve that would be to vote. And I hope the speaker will find a way to allow the House to work its will on the issue of Ukraine aid and the other parts of the bill as well.
“What I do think is appropriate is for the House to be able to work its will on Ukraine, which obviously was the most controversial part of what we did,” the Senate Republican added.
As Hewitt’s op-ed recognized, Johnson’s moving to pass the Ukraine aid package would likely result in his ouster, leading to weeks of chaos in Congress’s lower chamber, which happened after the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
HISTORIC: House Votes to Remove Kevin McCarthy from Speakership
U.S. House of RepresentativesThis starkly contrasts Pew’s March 2022 survey, which found that 42 percent of Americans believed that the United States was not sending enough aid to Ukraine, 32 percent said it was about right, and only seven percent said the country sent too much aid.
This also follows as the Biden administration has told Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) that Ukraine’s victory is “necessary” and that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “cannot simply wait us out.”
Despite Senate Republican leadership’s strong push for Ukraine, Johnson indicated Monday night that the House will not bring up the bill.
“In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson said. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
