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Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suggested the House of Representatives will act in the coming weeks to get more funding to Ukraine.
“When we return after this period, we’ll be moving a product. But it’s going to, I think, have some important innovations,” Johnson told Fox News’ “Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy.”
Both the House and Senate are currently on the second week of a two-week recess, when lawmakers are working in their home districts. The House is back on Tuesday, April 9.
Johnson said he has been “working to build consensus” on a supplemental national security and foreign aid package, though he signaled it would look different from prior attempts. He said the House would “be moving it right after the district work period.”
Speaker Mike Johnson suggested the House could soon begin work on Ukraine aid. (Ozan Guzelce/ dia images via Getty Images | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
It comes after Republicans killed a $118 billion package with aid for Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel and the U.S. border earlier this year, arguing it did not go far enough to tackle the ongoing border crisis. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and President Biden have been pressuring Johnson to take up a slimmer $95 billion package without border measures.
“We’ve been trying to use that as the only leverage we have to force change on the border. We’re still trying to force the president to use his executive authority, and most of the American people know that he has that authority. He’s not using it,” Johnson argued.
On Ukraine specifically, he said, “There’s a lot of things that we should do that make more sense and I think we’ll have consensus around.”
US SENDING UKRAINE $300 MILLION IN WEAPONS DESPITE LACKING FUNDS TO REPLENISH ITS OWN STOCKPILES
Johnson highlighted three details specifically – the first being the REPO Act introduced in the House last year by Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, which would liquidate seized Russian assets and send that as assistance to Ukraine.
The speaker also pointed out that former President Trump recently floated the idea of aid to Ukraine in the form of a loan, though he did not mention specific terms save for Kyiv paying Washington back if they win the war against Russia.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing Johnson to take up his chamber’s $95 billion supplemental funding package. (Reuters/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/File Photo)
“Even President Trump has talked about the loan concept where we set up – we’re