National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan suggested last weekend that if Speaker Mike Johnson did not bring the Senate supplemental foreign aid package to the House floor for a vote, Russian President Vladimir Putin would be the biggest beneficiary, The Hill reported.
While appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” on February 25, Sullivan was asked by host Dana Bash if he agreed with the White House’s claim that the speaker was “siding with Putin” by refusing to hold a vote on the bill, which includes an additional $60 billion for Ukraine.
Sullivan said that each day Congress fails to provide Ukraine with the resources it needs, Putin gains and Ukraine suffers.
He noted that the majority of the House was “standing ready to pass this bill” but the decision to bring it to the floor for a vote rested with Speaker Johnson. He claimed that history was watching to see if the speaker would “put that bill on the floor.”
Sullivan said if the speaker did the right thing, Ukraine would get what it needed to succeed, but if Johnson did not, the US would be unable to provide Ukraine with the necessary tools to “stand up to Russia.” As a result, President Putin would be “the major beneficiary of that.”
During a February 27 meeting at the White House to hammer out a spending package to avert a government shutdown, congressional leaders also discussed the stalled supplemental foreign aid package with President Biden and Vice President Harris.
Following the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that the discussion over Ukraine aid was “one of the most intense” discussions he had ever been a part of in the Oval Office.
According to Schumer, everyone, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, had pressured Speaker Johnson to bring the bill to a vote, with all of them trying to make it clear how “vital” the aid to Ukraine was.
Johnson told reporters after the meeting that he told the president and other congressional leaders that the House was “actively pursuing and investigating all the various options” and would be addressing the supplemental aid package “in a timely matter.” However, Johnson said he told them that securing the southern border remained the House’s top priority.