Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Wednesday that he hopes Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) continues to “stand firm” against Senate Republicans and reject any deal on Ukraine funding and border security that falls short of House GOP demands.
“I hope the House Republicans stand firm and tell the Senate Republicans, ‘We want a real border bill or nothing. And we’re not going to pass the aid to Ukraine without taking care of the American border,’” Gingrich said in a radio interview on the “Cats & Cosby Show.”
Johnson faces mounting pressure from the White House and congressional leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), to accept an expected deal that would address border security while also providing funding for Ukraine.
The anticipated package would also include funding for Israel and the Indo-Pacific region, two areas about which the U.S. is concerned but that have not attracted as much controversy.
President Biden invited Johnson and other congressional leaders to the White House on Wednesday for a briefing with security experts on the dire situation Ukraine faces. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan were among those in attendance.
As Johnson faces continued pressure from his conference, he has cast doubt on the likelihood for a deal to ultimately come through. At a press conference Wednesday morning, before the White House meeting, Johnson reiterated his position, saying, “I don’t think now is the time for comprehensive immigration reform because we know how complicated that is.”
After the meeting, Johnson still sounded skeptical, saying, “We need the questions answered about the strategy, about the end game” in Ukraine, adding that border security has to be as important as other national security concerns.
Johnson and other conservatives have said the bill does not go far enough on border security, at a time when the U.S. struggles to deal with high migration at the southern border.
McConnell is urging Republicans to not focus solely on the border aspect of the bill.
“The rest of the bill is important. We’re getting shot at. The Houthis are shooting at our ships, at commercial ships. We’ve got a war in Israel, a war in Ukraine. I’m sure the Chinese were unhappy with the outcome of the presidential election in Taiwan a few days ago,” McConnell said. “I think it’s time to go ahead with the supplemental, and I’m anticipating it will be before us next week.”
Gingrich took the opposite view from McConnell on Wednesday and argued nothing is more important than the U.S. southern border, though he did still express support for Ukraine and its fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The American border is at least as important to Americans as the Ukrainian border. And I’m very much in favor of stopping Putin, but I’m also really, really alarmed at the sheer numbers that Biden has brought into this country and the total dishonesty of their program,” he said.