House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the House would address Ukraine aid this week. Now it’s next week, more than two months after the Senate Ukraine aid bill passed 70-29, with 22 Republican votes. The time for action was months ago. Every day Johnson delays means more Ukrainians die, and every Ukrainian death brings Russian President Vladimir Putin closer to NATO’s doorstep and American troops closer to combat in Europe.
The time for Johnson’s self-preserving politics is also long past. If the House Speaker brings Ukraine aid to the floor, he’ll face a right-wing rebellion and possibly the end of his speakership. He should do it anyway.
Having visited Kyiv for two days last week, I can attest that our support is crucial, now.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently told the Washington Post’s David Ignatius — from “a sandbagged, heavily guarded presidential compound” — that congressional bickering is leaving Ukrainian troops short on such basics as ammunition, faced with the prospect of step-by-step withdrawal and the dire prospect of “cutting the line” to preserve what ammo it has. This is not just hypothetical: In February, Russia scored its biggest victory in nine months when Ukrainian troops retreated from the strategic city of Avdiivka.
On my visit with colleagues from the Commission on National Defense Strategy, we saw the impressive development of Ukraine’s indigenous defense industry, which refutes the right’s assertions that Ukraine needs to take more responsibility for its own defense. The Ukrainians are building low-cost drones for $350 a copy. They are building longer-range drones and their own tanks. They’ve changed their technology base to focus on defense — and they’re showing us how to do it. But without long-range fire, Patriot missiles and sophisticated anti-jamming technology, they still can’t win.
Johnson should bear in mind what Zelensky told Ignatius: “If you don’t do it, Russia will do it.”
But getting Ukraine aid passed is also the right thing to do for America.
Fully 70 percent of the budget for Ukraine aid goes to U.S. companies — companies in precisely those industrial centers Republicans such as Johnson claim to champion. As the American Enterprise Institute has documented, many of the benefits have fallen in states and congressional districts whose representatives continue to oppose Ukraine aid. Patriot radars in West Plains, Mo. Rocket parts in Huntsville, Ala. And yes, armored vehicles in Johnson’s home state of Louisiana.
And of course, this is America. We can’t leave aside our ideals.
American ideals of democracy and sovereignty and a Europe whole and free.
They’re ideals that Ukraine is fighting and dying for while American politicians squabble. And Mike Johnson knows it.
In the long run, pandering to a small, isolationist wing of the House amounts to appeasing Putin himself. Johnson should worry less about preserving his speakership and more about preserving his legacy.
Jane Harman is former member of Congress and chair of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy.