Former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney believes that Speaker Mike Johnson should call the House back to Washington to vote on the Senate’s supplemental foreign aid package even if doing so risks his speakership, Politico reported.
While appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” broadcast on February 18, Cheney called on the House to pass the Senate measure quickly to provide funding to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
When host Jake Tapper suggested that Speaker Johnson could face a similar motion to vacate like the one used to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Cheney dismissed the risk, saying that Johnson should understand that ensuring “freedom survives” would be worth losing his speakership. She said Johnson should want to ensure that the US “continues to play its leadership role in the world.”
The $95 billion supplemental package the US Senate passed on February 13 would include about $60 billion in funding for Ukraine. The measure gained overwhelming bipartisan support, with 22 Republicans joining 46 Democrats in approving the funding.
However, Speaker Johnson, who has been facing pressure from House Republicans and Donald Trump, resisted bringing the bill to a vote before the House adjourned for a 2-week recess.
Before the Senate passed the measure, Johnson suggested that the House would pass its own funding package that included additional funding to secure the US border rather than take up the Senate bill.
Cheney, however, urged Speaker Johnson not to cave to outside pressure. She told Jake Tapper that Johnson would have to explain to his children and grandchildren “whether or not he did what was right” and whether he chose to be a “force for good” to aid “the cause of freedom” or if he would be a coward and do what Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted.
Citing the February 16 death of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, Cheney suggested that Donald Trump was “pledging retribution” similar to what Putin did to Navalny. She said Americans should “take Donald Trump very seriously” when he emulates a country whose leader “is not subject to the rule of law.”
