Speaker Johnson meets with Senate GOP ahead of Ukraine funding clash

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) met with Senate Republicans on Wednesday in a lunch that offered hope the conference can work past a divide on funding for Ukraine.

The meeting, hosted by Senate conservatives, gave Johnson the opportunity to introduce himself to the Republican conference, most of whom had never spoken with him before his surprise election last Wednesday.

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But it also afforded him the chance to set expectations as Congress fights over a $106 billion supplemental that includes controversial money for the war in Ukraine.

Johnson has split off Israel aid from that package, placing the House at odds with the White House but also Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

The move reflects the mood of his conference, which has grown impatient with the United States’s open-ended commitment in Ukraine. Johnson himself has voted against Ukraine aid.

But Senate Republicans walked away heartened by their meeting, in which Johnson expressed, according to Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), that he would take a different view now that he’s representing the entire conference.

Johnson further indicated that he’s “supportive” of the aid, according to Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND).

“It’s pretty clear to me that he doesn’t intend to leave Ukraine behind, and that’s reassuring to those of us who support Ukraine funding as well,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the former Senate majority whip.

That aid won’t come without conditions, something on which Johnson and his Senate colleagues agree. The party is eyeing a grand bargain in which money for Ukraine is traded for border policy changes.

Johnson left the meeting to speak with Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), at which point the Senate lunch turned to talk of the border package Senate Republicans are preparing to offer.

The meeting suggests a party getting on the same page after weeks of turmoil in the House. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), one of the Senate Republicans helping craft a border package, visited Johnson’s office after the lunch.

Johnson emphasized to the conference the dynamic he must navigate, a narrow majority that gives outsize influence to the conservative Freedom Caucus. It’s part of the reason he is speaker in the first place.

That means the opening offer on legislation will be crafted with so-called poison pills, such as the IRS cuts added to the Israel bill, that the Democratic-controlled Senate will reject out of hand.

Senate Republicans expressed a common understanding that Republicans in both chambers are not working at cross purposes, even if their legislation diverges at the outset.

“If you get something that doesn’t mesh with what the Senate wants, it’s because he can’t get it through the House in the form that the Senate wants,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). “I think we have to be very aware of the fact that he has his finger on the pulse of his caucus, and that he’s going to do his darndest to get legislation passed the House so we can consider it as soon as possible.”

McConnell, who has spent weeks arguing the threats of Russia, China, and Iran must be considered together, spoke after Johnson left but not during his visit, according to multiple senators in the room. Yet Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) downplayed the idea of any friction between the two leaders, invoking the relationship McConnell had with Johnson’s predecessor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

“Mitch and Kevin, even when they appeared to not be on the same page, they were on the same page,” he said. “And I think the same is true of Mitch and Mike.”

“They understand each other’s burdens, and there are no two other people except maybe Kevin McCarthy and Nancy Pelosi that do,” he added. “They don’t have many peers, so no, I think they understand each other’s rules quite well and respect them.”

The lunch, a weekly meeting put on by the conservative Steering Committee, would ordinarily have been led by its chairman, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), but Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) hosted the visit in his place.

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He, along with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who hosts weekly meetings at his home with House and Senate conservatives, met with Johnson in the speaker’s office before the meeting, a visit meant to signal their solidarity with Johnson, according to one Senate aide present, but also to prepare Johnson for the meeting.

“That’s the whole purpose of this dialogue and greater collaboration, is so that we understand what he’s up against, what his challenges are, what his constraints are, and he understands what ours are as well,” Ron Johnson said.

Reese Gorman contributed to this story.