Mike Johnson may have to choose between Ukraine aid and his job

SPARE SOME pity for Mike Johnson, the stuck speaker of the House of Representatives. A relatively obscure congressman thrust into leadership six months ago when the ungovernable Republican majority threw out the former speaker, Kevin McCarthy, Mr Johnson may be defenestrated too if he does something that he seems to think that he must: provide additional military aid to Ukraine, over the objections of the isolationist wing of his party.

While the European Union and its member countries have contributed considerably to Ukraine’s budget and humanitarian needs, America has been Ukraine’s largest provider of military aid, amounting to $44bn since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. But further help has been stuck for months. In October 2023 President Joe Biden proposed that Congress appropriate $60bn for Ukraine as part of a security bill that would have spent a further $45bn on securing America’s southern border and on arming allies like Israel and Taiwan.