Ukraine Poses Early Test for New House Speaker Mike Johnson
- Says US won’t abandon ally, but wants offsetting spending cuts
- Republicans split between defense hawks and populist wing
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Newly installed Speaker Mike Johnson confronts critical early tests with an emergency aid request for Ukraine and Israel and a mid-November funding deadline to keep open the US government — all made more difficult by House Republicans’ ideological divide.
The 51-year-old Republican, a little-known congressman until he rose to lead the House, has no track record in high-level Washington negotiations. He’s only offered broad hints on how he will proceed, but they already point to conflict with Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden.