GOP Senators Tell Johnson Not To Budge On Greene's Ukraine Demand

GOP senators are telling House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La) not to give in to the demand of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) when it comes to matters concerning future Ukraine aid.

The senators consider giving in to Greene's demand as a "grave mistake" as they are already expecting that the present administration would be requesting another round of aid for Ukraine in the last quarter of the year. In line with this, they would like Johnson to be able to move the request forward in the House.

During Monday's meeting, Greene requested Johnson to commit that he will not be helping moves that will provide additional assistance to Ukraine. However, since the Democrats have already signified that they will be crashing the motion of Greene to vacate the speakership, they see little reason for Johnson to agree to Greene's demand and rule out Ukraine aid.

The demand came in exchange for Greene not to call a snap leadership election that would oust Johnson from the speakership.

Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters that he thinks that one could not just tie the hands of the speaker. He also said that at the moment, Johnson has a job to do.

"I just think at this point you can't tie his hands. He's the Speaker of the House," Thune told reporters, as written in The Hill.

"Right now, he's got a job to do. Who knows what in the future may or may not be needed or necessary?" he noted.

"I wouldn't make any commitments about what he's going to move on the floor or not move on the floor in response to demands she's making," Thune added.

Agreeing with Thune was Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who said Johnson must not be making major concessions over the funding in Ukraine. He also noted that people were actually "sick and tired of chaos and dysfunction."

Aside from the Ukraine concessions that Greene wanted, she also requested for Johnson to defund the investigations of Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith, Axios reported.

However, according to GOP senators, a legislation that would be defunding the special counsel's investigations do not have a chance of becoming a law. They also warned that cutting discretionary spending by 1% would actually hit hard the Department of Defense.

"You know what? She's one person out of a body of 435. You tell me how one person can literally hold the entire House," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said.