Johnson likely forced to get Dem help on foreign aid plan as Republicans decry lack of border measures

The foreign aid plan Speaker Johnson, R-La., unveiled on Monday night is already facing a growing red wave of opposition from his own colleagues as of Tuesday morning, making it likely he will have to seek House Democratic support to get the proposal passed.

Under Johnson’s tentative plan, aid for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel would all be considered as separate bills. A fourth bill would combine miscellaneous national security priorities, including the House’s recently passed bill that could pave the way to a TikTok ban and the REPO Act, a bipartisan measure to liquefy seized Russian assets and send that money to Ukraine.

A lack of any border security measures, however, has prompted even reliable leadership allies to be wary of letting the bills move forward.

‘I’m thinking of voting against the rule,’ Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. ‘Unless we vote to send something to the Senate the same day that addresses the border, requires the president to take action on his executive orders. Or we can put something with the underlying legislation that would actually do a couple of things – we can stop money from going to NGOs that are transporting individuals, we can stop Homeland Security from releasing criminals into the interior.’

While the four bills are designed to get separate House floor votes, they will first have to pass a procedural hurdle known as a rule vote, a House-wide measure that if passed will allow for debate and eventual votes on the four individual pieces. 

Rule votes traditionally fall along party lines, and with Johnson’s razor-thin majority, he can only afford to lose two Republicans on any party-line vote – and it’s becoming increasingly likely that he might, meaning Democrats will need to break precedent to help get the bills over the line.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., whose disagreements with Johnson have led her to threaten his leadership role, said on Tuesday morning that she would vote against the rule unless the Democrat-controlled Senate took up the House GOP’s comprehensive border security bill known as H.R.2 – which Democrats have panned as a nonstarter.

‘NO, I am NOT voting for the rule on Johnson’s bundle of funding bills for billions more to Ukraine and other foreign wars. When Joe Biden signs HR2 into law and Schumer holds the Mayorkas impeachment trial in the Senate, I will agree to vote for the rule only,’ Greene said on X. ‘Speaker Johnson is not holding Democrats accountable nor leading our Republican majority, he’s actually giving in to Democrats every demand. And he’s using dirty swamp tactics to push through the America Last agenda.’

Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, would not say how he would vote on the rule but told reporters, ‘The rule that was proposed last night at conference will fail.’

Other critics of foreign aid similarly declined to say how they would vote but signaled they were opposed to Johnson’s proposal itself.

‘I think it leaves much to be desired. It doesn’t have border control in it, it doesn’t have any pay-fors in it,’ Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital. ‘I think those are two problems.’

Other Republicans, however, argued it’s a better plan than the Senate-passed $95 trillion supplemental aid package that its leaders are now pressuring Johnson to take up.

‘No one wants to swallow the senate supplemental as a whole, and if we wait any longer without taking any action, that’s exactly what’s going to happen,’ Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., urged his colleagues to remember that they had already passed H.R.2 and have furiously been pushing for Democrats to take it up. He also told Fox News Digital that there were ‘conversations’ about including border provisions before the text is released.

‘I think we’re in a critical time that, obviously, our allies need our support more than ever, and I hope that there’s a way that we could include more border security into these packages,’ D’Esposito said. ‘But I think we need to remind ourselves that we’ve as House Republicans done our job. We sent a comprehensive border bill over to the Senate. They have failed to act.’