WASHINGTON (AP) — For the Republican leader in the Senate Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson, the need to supply Ukraine with weapons and other assistance to fend off Russian invasion is ingrained in their earliest and most formative political memories.
McConnell, 82, tells the story of his father’s letters from Eastern Europe in 1945, at the end of World War II, when the foot soldier noted that the Russians “were going to be a big problem” before the communist takeover. Johnson, 30 years younger, came of age as the Cold War was ending.
As both men urged their party this week to support a $95 billion aid package that would support Ukraine, as well as Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian missions, they branded themselves “Reagan Republicans” and described the fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin in terms of ‘Reagan Republicans’. American strength and leadership. But the enormous effort to get the legislation through Congress left them both grappling with an entirely new Republican Party formed by the former president. Donald Trump.
While McConnell, R-Ky., and Johnson, R-La., took different approaches to dealing with Trump, the presumptive nominee for the White House in 2024, the battle highlighted the fundamental struggle within the Republican Party: will conservatives continue march towards Trump’s ‘America’? Foreign affairs doctrine first, or will they see the value in supporting America’s allies? And the GOP is still the party of Ronald Reagan?
“I think we’re having an internal debate about that,” McConnell said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’m a Reagan guy and I think today — at least in this episode — we turned the tables on the isolationists.”
Still, he acknowledged, “that doesn’t mean they will disappear forever.”
McConnell hailed a temporary victory Tuesday in the waning days of his 18-year tenure as Republican leader when there was a healthy showing of 31 Republicans voting in favor of foreign aid; that was nine more than it had supported in February. According to him, this is a trend in the right direction.
McConnell, who has served in the Senate since 1985, said passing the legislation was “one of the most important things I’ve ever had to deal with and have an impact on.”
But it was not without costs.
He said last month he would leave his job as leader next year after internal clashes over money for Ukraine and the direction of the party.
For Johnson, who is only six months into his post as speaker, the political crosscurrents are even more difficult. He continues to cling to his leadership post, while right-wing Republicans threaten to oust him for putting aid to Ukraine to the vote. Although McConnell has embraced American leadership abroad throughout his career, Johnson only recently gave the package full support.
Johnson was careful not to portray the passage as a triumph when a majority of his own Republicans in the House of Representatives opposed the bill. He then skipped a celebratory press conference, describing it in brief remarks as “not a perfect piece of legislation.”
But he also borrowed terms popularized by Reagan, saying aggression from Russia, China and Iran “threatens the free world and requires American leadership.”
“If we turn our backs now, the consequences could be devastating,” he said.
Hard-line conservatives, including some who are threatening a snap vote on his leadership, are furious, saying the aid was completely out of line with what Republican voters want. They condemned both Johnson and McConnell for supporting it.
“The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has sold out Americans and passed a bill that sends $95 billion to other countries,” said Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who opposed the bill. He said the legislation “undermines American interests abroad and paves the way to bankruptcy for our country.”
Johnson is being praised by much of Washington for doing what he called “the right thing” at a dangerous moment for himself and the world.
“He is essentially an honorable person,” the Senate majority leader said Chuck SchumerDN.Y., who brokered the negotiations and spent hours on the phone and in meetings with Johnson, McConnell and the White House.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Johnson and McConnell “both showed great resolve, backbone and real leadership at a time when it was desperately needed.”
When McConnell started the negotiations, they were over President Joe BidenWhen he first asked for help last year, he quickly set the terms for a deal. He and Schumer agreed to tie any aid to Ukraine to aid to Israel, Schumer said, and McConnell demanded policy changes at the U.S. border with Mexico.
According to McConnell, Trump was “not enthusiastic” about providing more aid to Kiev. Yet McConnell, whose office features a portrait of every Republican president since Reagan with the exception of Trump, had a virtually nonexistent relationship with the man he often refers to, not by name, but simply as “the former president.”
Yet Trump would prove to be a powerful force. As a deal on border security neared completion after months of work, Trump scrapped the proposal as insufficient and a “gift” to Biden’s reelection. Conservatives, including Johnson, rejected it out of hand.
With the border deal dead, McConnell joined Schumer in pushing forward with foreign aid, stripping back border policy and cementing their unusual alliance. Senate leaders met weekly during the negotiations.
“We disagreed on a lot of things, but we really stuck together,” Schumer said.
“We just persevered. We couldn’t give this up.”
Meanwhile, a small group of Republican senators began working on an idea they thought could give Johnson some political leeway. Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma took an idea Trump put forward — structuring aid to Ukraine as a loan — and tried to make it a reality.
Through a series of phone calls with Trump, several members of the House of Representatives and the speaker, they attempted to structure roughly $9 billion in economic aid for Ukraine in the form of forgivable loans — much like the final package.
“Our approach this time was to make sure the policy was set, which means President Trump is on board,” Mullin said.
The talks culminated in Johnson making a quick trip to Florida, where he stood side by side with Trump at his Florida club, just days before moving forward with Ukraine legislation in the House of Representatives.
It was all enough, with Democratic help, to get the bill across the finish line. The legislation, which Biden signed into law on Wednesday, included some revisions to the Senate bill, including the loan structure and a provision to seize frozen assets from Russia’s central bank to rebuild Ukraine. Nine Republican senators who had opposed the first version of the bill voted yes largely because of the changes Johnson made.
The result was a strong performance for foreign aid in the Senate, even if the decision could cost Johnson dearly.
What will happen to Ukraine next is anyone’s guess.
While the $61 billion for Ukraine in the package is expected to help the country withstand Moscow’s offensive this year, more aid will certainly be needed. Republicans, exhausted after a grueling battle, largely brushed aside questions about the future.
“This one wasn’t easy,” Mullin said.
