GOP hawks praise new House speaker amid Ukraine, budget uncertainty

WASHINGTON ― The House selected Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., as its new speaker in a party-line vote on Wednesday.

Some Republican defense hawks struck a note of optimism following Johnson’s election, arguing his position representing a military-heavy district on the Armed Services Committee could help ameliorate some of the budget uncertainty generated by the recent turmoil within the GOP conference.

However, Johnson will face many of the same political dynamics that beguiled former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was ousted at the behest of a small group of right-wing lawmakers in his own party.

McCarthy’s ouster ground business in the House to a halt for three weeks, raising questions as to whether Congress can fund the federal government — including the Defense Department — and pass the White House’s proposed $106 billion supplemental spending package , which includes more military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific security partners.

In a floor speech following his election, Johnson addressed U.S. allies, acknowledging the world has “been watching this drama play out for the last three weeks.”

“We want our allies around the world to know that this body of lawmakers is reporting again to our duty stations,” said Johnson. “Let the enemies of freedom around the world hear us loud and clear. The people’s house is back in business.”

House Rules Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., who also sits on the defense appropriations committee, praised Johnson’s defense policy credentials.

“I feel better because nothing’s moving until we get a speaker,” Cole told Defense News. “I take a great deal of solace from the fact that Mike represents a military district: Barksdale Air Force Base.”

Barksdale Air Force Base is the headquarters of Air Force Global Strike Command. Johnson’s rural Louisiana district is also home to Fort Johnson, the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center and the Louisiana National Guard’s Minden Training Center.

“He’s familiar with the issues,” Cole said. He added that the Armed Services Committee Johnson sits on “is a well-run, very bipartisan committee.”

House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., declined to comment.

The Armed Services Committee in June advanced its $874 billion annual defense policy bill in a 58-1 vote. The defense policy bill is usually a bipartisan product, but the House narrowly passed it 219-210 in July mostly along party lines.

Democrats defected in droves after Republican leaders added several amendments from the right-wing Freedom Caucus that would overturn the Pentagon’s abortion leave policy, restrict medical care for transgender troops, eliminate military diversity initiatives and bar the Defense Department from implementing President Joe Biden’s climate change initiatives .

Democrats cited the partisan defense policy bill as part of their reason for voting to oust McCarthy in an effort spearheaded by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. Gaetz instigated the vote to remove McCarthy after the former speaker passed a bipartisan, short-term spending bill earlier this month to avoid a government shutdown.

That bill expires Nov. 17, once again raising the specter of a shutdown in the near future unless Congress passes its appropriations legislation or another short-term spending bill.

If Congress does not pass its fiscal 2024 appropriations legislation by January, a one-year continuing resolution with a 1% cut to all federal agencies — including the Defense Department — goes into effect, per the May debt ceiling agreement .

A one-year continuing resolution would place major constraints on the Pentagon’s ability to procure big-ticket items like aircraft and ships, even as numerous shipbuilding programs are already falling behind.

Cole said this would constitute “a failure of Congress to do its job.”

“That is not what you want to do right now,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous world.”

Ukraine aid uncertainty

Johnson in his speech said “we are at a time of extraordinary crisis right now, and the world needs us to be strong.”

“Turmoil and violence have rocked the Middle East and eastern Europe — we all know it — and tensions continue to build in the Indo-Pacific,” he added. “The country demands strong leadership of this body and we must not waver.”

He vowed to take up legislation supporting Israel, but has so far declined to answer whether he would put additional Ukraine aid on the floor. The Biden administration has less than $5.5 billion in funds to continue transferring weapons from U.S. stockpiles to Kyiv.

Notably, McCarthy dropped $6 billion in Ukraine aid from the short-term spending bill amid growing opposition to continued arms transfers to Kyiv within the House Republican caucus.

The Senate is moving forward with a massive, bipartisan, all-in-one defense spending package based on the supplemental request Biden sent to Congress last week . Biden’s proposed package includes $44.4 billion to continue arming Ukraine against Russia’s invasion through the U.S. presidential election and $14.3 billion to arm Israel as it bombs Palestinians in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ massacre and abduction of Israelis earlier this month.

Republicans have demanded separate votes on Ukraine and Israel aid, with roughly half the House Republican caucus now opposed to continued assistance for Kyiv.

“We’re going to discuss the supplemental,” Defense Appropriations Chairman Ken Calvert, R-Calif., told Defense News. “Obviously it’s a big number, and we’ve got to look at it carefully.”

“Israel is our primary focus,” he said, adding “we need to have a discussion about Ukraine.”

House Democrats have called for a combined Ukraine-Israel aid package. They have also objected to Johnson’s speakership over his vote against certifying Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the House’s No. 3 Democrat, called Johnson “the most important architect of the electoral objections” to a mingle of jeers and applause throughout the chamber.

Johnson led more than 100 GOP lawmakers in 2020 filing an amicus brief in a failed lawsuit that asked the Supreme Court to overturn the election results. The lawsuit was filed by Texas and other Republican-led states.

A reporter on Tuesday asked Johnson about his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election results. He shook his head as Republican lawmakers behind him booed and Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., yelled “shut up.”

Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.

华盛顿——众议院周三以党派投票的方式选举路易斯安那州共和党众议员迈克·约翰逊为新任议长。

约翰逊当选后，一些共和党国防鹰派人士表达了乐观态度，认为他代表军事重镇选区在军事委员会任职，有助于缓解共和党近期内部动荡造成的一些预算不确定性。

然而，约翰逊将面临与前众议院议长、加州共和党人凯文·麦卡锡类似的诸多政治动态，麦卡锡正是被他自己党内一小群右翼议员要求罢免的。

麦卡锡被罢免后，众议院的工作陷入停滞三周，这引发了人们对国会能否为联邦政府（包括国防部）提供资金，以及能否通过白宫提出的 1060 亿美元补充支出方案的质疑，该方案包括向乌克兰、以色列和印太安全伙伴提供更多军事援助。

约翰逊当选后在国会发表讲话，向美国盟友表示，全世界“在过去三周里一直在关注这场政治剧的上演”。

约翰逊说：“我们希望世界各地的盟友都知道，本届立法机构已重新回到各自的岗位。让全世界的自由之敌都听清楚我们的声音。人民的议会已经恢复运作。”

众议院规则委员会主席、俄克拉荷马州共和党众议员汤姆·科尔同时也是国防拨款委员会成员，他称赞了约翰逊的国防政策资历。

科尔告诉《防务新闻》：“在找到发言人之前，事情不会有任何进展，这让我感觉好多了。迈克代表的是一个军事区：巴克斯代尔空军基地，这让我感到非常欣慰。”

巴克斯代尔空军基地是美国空军全球打击司令部的总部。约翰逊所在的路易斯安那州乡村地区还有约翰逊堡、陆军联合战备训练中心和路易斯安那州国民警卫队明登训练中心。

科尔说：“他对这些问题很熟悉。”他还补充说，约翰逊所在的军事委员会“是一个运作良好、两党合作非常紧密的委员会”。

众议院军事委员会主席、阿拉巴马州共和党众议员迈克·罗杰斯拒绝置评。

今年6月，美国众议院军事委员会以58比1的投票结果通过了总额达8740亿美元的年度国防政策法案。该法案通常是两党合作的成果，但今年7月，众议院仅以219比210的微弱优势通过了该法案，投票结果基本按照党派划分。

在共和党领导人采纳了右翼自由党团的几项修正案后，民主党人纷纷倒戈。这些修正案将推翻五角大楼的堕胎假政策，限制跨性别军人的医疗保健，取消军队多元化倡议，并禁止国防部实施乔·拜登总统的气候变化倡议。

民主党人将党派纷争不断的国防政策法案列为他们投票罢免麦卡锡的原因之一，而这项罢免行动是由佛罗里达州共和党众议员马特·盖茨牵头的。此前，这位前议长在本月初通过了一项两党合作的短期支出法案，以避免政府停摆，之后盖茨便发起了罢免麦卡锡的投票。

该法案将于 11 月 17 日到期，除非国会通过拨款法案或其他短期支出法案，否则近期内政府可能再次停摆。

如果国会在 1 月份之前没有通过 2024 财年拨款法案，根据 5 月份达成的债务上限协议，一项为期一年的持续拨款决议将生效，该决议将削减所有联邦机构（包括国防部）1% 的预算。

一项为期一年的持续拨款决议将对五角大楼采购飞机和舰船等大宗商品的能力施加重大限制，而与此同时，许多造船项目已经落后。

科尔表示，这将构成“国会未能履行其职责”。

“现在你最好不要那样做，”他说。“这是一个非常危险的世界。”

乌克兰援助的不确定性

约翰逊在演讲中说：“我们现在正处于一个非同寻常的危机时期，世界需要我们坚强起来。”

“中东和东欧动荡不安，暴力冲突不断——我们都知道——印太地区的紧张局势也在持续加剧，”他补充道。“国家需要该机构强有力的领导，我们绝不能动摇。”

他誓言要推进支持以色列的立法，但迄今为止仍拒绝回答是否会提出增加对乌克兰的援助。拜登政府目前仅有不到55亿美元的资金，用于继续从美国军火库向基辅转移武器。

值得注意的是，由于众议院共和党党团内部对继续向基辅输送武器的反对声浪日益高涨，麦卡锡从短期支出法案中削减了 60 亿美元的乌克兰援助。

参议院正在推进一项规模庞大、两党共同支持的综合性国防开支方案，该方案基于拜登上周提交给国会的补充拨款请求。拜登提出的方案包括444亿美元，用于在美国总统大选期间继续武装乌克兰以应对俄罗斯的入侵；以及143亿美元，用于武装以色列，以应对哈马斯本月早些时候对加沙地带巴勒斯坦人的屠杀和绑架。

共和党人要求对乌克兰和以色列的援助进行单独投票，目前众议院共和党党团中约有一半人反对继续向基辅提供援助。

“我们将讨论这项补充拨款，”国防拨款委员会主席、加州共和党众议员肯·卡尔弗特告诉《防务新闻》。“显然，这是一笔巨款，我们必须仔细研究。”

“以色列是我们的首要关注点，”他说道，“我们需要讨论一下乌克兰问题。”

众议院民主党人呼吁制定一项针对乌克兰和以色列的联合援助方案。他们还反对约翰逊担任议长，因为他投票反对确认拜登在2020年大选中获胜。

众议院第三号民主党人、来自加利福尼亚州的众议员皮特·阿吉拉尔称约翰逊是“选举异议的最重要策划者”，此言一出，议会大厅内掌声和嘲笑声交织在一起。

2020年，约翰逊带领100多名共和党议员向最高法院提交了一份法庭之友意见陈述书，该诉讼旨在推翻选举结果，但最终败诉。该诉讼由德克萨斯州和其他共和党执政的州提起。

周二，一名记者询问约翰逊在试图推翻2020年大选结果的过程中扮演了什么角色。他摇了摇头，身后的共和党议员们发出嘘声，北卡罗来纳州共和党众议员弗吉尼亚·福克斯大喊“闭嘴”。

布莱恩特·哈里斯是《防务新闻》的国会记者。自2014年以来，他一直在华盛顿报道美国外交政策、国家安全、国际事务和政治。他还曾为《外交政策》、《Al-Monitor》、《半岛电视台英语频道》和IPS新闻撰稿。