The White House bashed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Wednesday for pushing for border security in the Ukraine aid package after conservatives in the House and Senate effectively killed bipartisan border legislation, saying he is in a dizzying tailspin.
“For months, Speaker Johnson demanded that Ukraine legislation include border security,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. “But when given the opportunity to support the toughest, fairest bipartisan border bill in decades, he killed it – siding with Donald Trump and fentanyl traffickers over Joe Biden and the Border Patrol Union.”
A week ago, a group of senators from both parties unveiled legislation that included efforts to tighten security at the border. The package also included aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Republicans who had been demanding that aid to Ukraine be coupled with action at the border argued the package was insufficient, and Johnson said it was dead on arrival in the House.
A number of lawmakers in both parties have indicated political calculations may have played a role, given former President Trump’s desire to run on the border as a political issue against Biden this fall.
The White House attack on Johnson also follows the House’s Tuesday night impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The Senate early Tuesday passed a bipartisan funding measure providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and other allies with 70 votes.
But Johnson says the Senate bill lacks the tougher border security measures the House Republicans have demanded.
“Now the Speaker says he won’t stand with Ukraine against Putin and Tehran because the legislation doesn’t include the very kind of border deal he killed. In both cases, congressional Republicans cite Trump as their motivation,” Bates said.
“The only common denominator in Speaker Johnson’s dizzying border security tailspin is politics,” he added, accusing Johnson of favoring politics over America’s national security.
The White House on Tuesday urged House Republicans to reverse course and take up the Senate-passed measure, and President Biden criticized the GOP for not supporting providing more aid to Ukraine.