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☆ Jeffries’s Hint of a Lifeline Bolstered Johnson on Ukraine. Will He Need It?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Carl Hulse | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, was in Munich in mid-February for the annual international security conference, Representative Michael R. Turner, the Ohio Republican and chairman of the Intelligence Committee, quietly sought him out with a request. Mr. Turner, according to those familiar with the private conversation, told Mr. Jeffries that he was committed to funding Ukraine’s war effort and believed that Speaker Mike Johnson would ultimately put an aid package on the floor, in defiance of right-wing Republicans opposed to doing so. Mr. Jeffries said he would take the idea under advisement. About 10 days later, after a Feb. 27 Oval Office session with President Biden and congressional leaders, Mr. Jeffries made his move. At a luncheon the next day at the Washington bureau of The New York Times, Mr. Jeffries responded to a question that he believed “a reasonable number” of Democrats would bail out Mr. Johnson if he put the aid package to a vote and faced ouster because of it.

Persons: Hakeem Jeffries, Michael R, Turner, Mr, Jeffries, Mike Johnson, Johnson, ultraconservatives, Kevin McCarthy, Biden Organizations: Democratic, Ohio Republican, Intelligence Committee, Republicans, The New York Times Locations: Munich, Washington

☆ How Mike Johnson Got to ‘Yes’ on Aid to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-21 | by ( Catie Edmondson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For weeks after the Senate passed a sprawling aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, Speaker Mike Johnson agonized over whether and how the House would take up funding legislation that would almost certainly infuriate the right wing of his party and could cost him his job. He huddled with top national security officials, including William J. Burns, the C.I.A. He met repeatedly with broad factions of Republicans in both swing and deep red districts, and considered their voters’ attitudes toward funding Ukraine. And finally, when his plan to work with Democrats to clear the way for aiding Ukraine met with an outpouring of venom from ultraconservatives already threatening to depose him, Mr. Johnson, an evangelical Christian, knelt and prayed for guidance. “I want to be on the right side of history,” Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, recalled the speaker telling him.

Persons: Mike Johnson agonized, William J, Burns, Johnson, “, Michael McCaul of Organizations: Senate, U.S . Naval Academy, Ukraine, Foreign Affairs Locations: Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, Michael McCaul of Texas

☆ Johnson Has a Tough Job. McCarthy’s Concessions Are Making It Tougher.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Catie Edmondson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Speaker Mike Johnson’s push to advance an aid package for Ukraine in the face of vehement opposition from his own party was never going to be easy. Both of those concessions, agreed to by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy more than a year ago, are now tormenting Mr. Johnson as he tries to push through a $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. They have hemmed him in to having to rely heavily on Democrats — not only to clear the way for the legislation and drag it across the finish line, but potentially to save his job. Mr. Johnson’s predicament was on vivid display on the House floor on Thursday as a group of ultraconservatives huddled around him in a heated back and forth. One after another, they urged the speaker to tie the foreign aid package to stringent anti-immigration measures, but Mr. Johnson pushed back, replying that he would not have enough Republican support to advance such a measure, according to people involved in the private conversation.

Persons: Mike Johnson’s, Kevin McCarthy, Johnson, — Locations: Ukraine, ultraconservatives, Israel, Taiwan

☆ Johnson Pushes Ahead on Foreign Aid Bill, Teeing Up a Weekend Vote
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Catie Edmondson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday told Republicans that the House would vote Saturday evening on his foreign aid package for Israel and Ukraine, pushing through resistance in his own party to advance a long-stalled national security spending package for U.S. allies. His announcement came amid a crush of opposition from Republicans who are vehemently against sending more aid to Ukraine, and have vented for days as congressional aides race to write the legislation Mr. Johnson proposed on Monday. The move was a nod to ultraconservatives who have demanded that the speaker not advance aid to Ukraine without securing sweeping concessions from Democrats on immigration policy. The legislative package Mr. Johnson is trying to advance roughly mirrors the $95 billion aid bill the Senate passed two months ago with aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and other American allies, but he has proposed breaking that package into three pieces that would be voted on individually. There would be a fourth vote on a separate measure containing other policies popular among Republicans, including conditioning Ukraine aid as a loan and a measure that could lead to a nationwide TikTok ban.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Johnson, ultraconservatives Organizations: Wednesday, Republicans, House Republicans Locations: Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan

☆ Johnson Floats Voting on Senate Ukraine Bill, With Conservative Policies as Sweeteners
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Catie Edmondson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Shortly after congressional leaders met with Japan’s prime minister in Speaker Johnson’s ceremonial office in the Capitol on Thursday morning, the conversation turned to Ukraine aid. Mr. Johnson was in the middle of another agonizing standoff with the ultraconservatives in his conference, after they had blocked legislation to extend a major warrantless surveillance law that is about to expire. His chief Republican antagonist, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, had intensified her threat to oust him. Even as right-wing Republicans have sought to ratchet up pressure on their speaker, Mr. Johnson has continued to search for a way to win the votes to push through a Ukraine aid. He is battling not only stiff resistance to the idea among House Republicans, but also mounting opposition among Democrats to sending unfettered military aid to Israel given the soaring civilian death toll and humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza.

Persons: Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, “ We’re, ”, Mr Organizations: Republicans Locations: Ukraine, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Israel, Gaza

☆ The Far Right Lost Badly and Wants Its Revenge
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Carl Hulse | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As 2023 opened with Republicans newly in control of the House, the far-right members of the party considered themselves empowered when it came to federal spending, with increased muscle to achieve the budget cuts of their dreams. But it turned out that many of their Republican colleagues did not share their vision of stark fiscal restraint. Or at least not fervently enough to go up against a Democratic Senate and White House to try to bring it into fruition. Instead, Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday pushed through a $1.2 trillion bipartisan package to fund the government for the rest of the year, with none of the deep cuts or policy changes that ultraconservatives had demanded. Those on the right fringe have been left boiling mad and threatening to make him the second Republican speaker to be deposed this term.

Persons: Mike Johnson, ultraconservatives, ”, Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Johnson Organizations: Democratic, White House, Republican Locations: Kentucky, Georgia

☆ Biden to Convene Congressional Leaders as Partial Shutdown Looms
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Erica L. Green | Catie Edmondson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden will convene the top four congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday as lawmakers swiftly run out of time to strike a deal to avert another partial government shutdown. “A basic, basic priority or duty of Congress is to keep the government open,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said. “So, that’s what the president wants to see. He’ll have those conversations.”The spending bill is being held up by demands from hard-right lawmakers in the House, including measures to restrict abortion access, that many members will not support. Ultraconservatives have brought the government to the brink of a shutdown or a partial shutdown three times in the past six months as they try to win more spending cuts and conservative policy conditions written into how federal money is spent.

Persons: Biden, Karine Jean, Pierre, “, Ms, Jean, Pierre said, Ultraconservatives Organizations: White, White House Locations: Ukraine, Israel

☆ Texas Bishop Loudly Critical of Pope Francis Is Removed
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Jason Horowitz | More About Jason Horowitz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, one of the loudest American voices against Pope Francis within his own church, recently responded to a Vatican investigation into his leadership and talk of his potential resignation with a public letter stating, “I cannot resign as Bishop of Tyler because that would be me abandoning the flock.” He added he would step aside only if the pope removed him. “The Holy Father has relieved from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Tyler,” Bishop Strickland, the Vatican said on Saturday in a routine statement of global staffing changes. It added that Francis had appointed Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin as the apostolic administrator of the sede vacante, or temporarily vacant seat, of Tyler. Supporters of Francis, who considered Bishop Strickland’s frequent salvos against the pope beyond the pale and indicative of his extremism, were likely to welcome the firing. But Bishop Strickland, 65 and well below the age of automatic resignation, tested the limits of that tolerance.

Persons: Bishop Joseph Strickland, Pope Francis, “, Tyler, Francis, Bishop Strickland’s, Francis ’, ultraconservatives, ” Bishop Strickland, Bishop Joe S, Bishop Strickland Locations: Tyler , Texas, United States, Tyler, Austin

As the volleyball game neared its end, thousands of fans watching on giant screens in an Istanbul park rose to their feet and fell silent. The ball soared, a Turkish player set it up near the net, and her teammate spiked it. Her Italian opponents blocked the shot but knocked the ball out of bounds, handing victory to the Turks and causing the crowd to erupt into chants of “Turkey! Turkey!”The nail-biter victory on Friday by Turkey’s national women’s volleyball team in the Women’s European Volleyball Championship was the most recent conquest by the country’s most successful major sports team, a record that has turned it into a rare source of national pride that holds appeal across the country’s social divides. Affectionately referred to as “the Sultans of the Net,” the team won the Volleyball Nations League championship in July in Arlington, Texas, and became the world’s top rated women’s national team, according to FIVB, the sport’s international governing body.

Persons: laud Organizations: Turkey’s, volleyball, Volleyball, Volleyball Nations League, FIVB Locations: Istanbul, Turkish, Turkey, Arlington , Texas, Serbia, Brussels

☆ Southern Baptists’ Fight Over Female Leaders Shows Power of Insurgent Right
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Elizabeth Dias | Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two summers ago, an insurgent group of ultraconservative Southern Baptists branded themselves as pirates, vowing to “take the ship” of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and steer it farther to the right on issues like sexuality and race. They were determined to halt what they saw as rising liberalism and drift from biblical truth. Many were outraged that one of their most prominent churches had ordained three women. Now, the ultraconservatives are seizing power, and the ship is beginning to turn. But it also stems from growing anxieties many evangelicals have about what they see as swiftly changing norms around gender and sexuality in America.

Organizations: Southern Baptists Locations: New Orleans, America

☆ What’s at Stake as Southern Baptists Move to Bar Women Pastors
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Colbi Edmonds | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Southern Baptist Convention, a denomination that is often a bellwether for evangelical America, has expelled five churches from the convention this year over their appointment of women as pastors. The move to enforce a strict ban against women in church leadership comes as some evangelicals fear a liberal drift in their congregations and a departure from Scripture. On Tuesday, two of those churches, Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., and Saddleback Church in Southern California, appealed their expulsions before thousands of delegates at the annual convention in New Orleans. At the same time, ultraconservatives were moving to amend the S.B.C. constitution to further restrict the role of women in leadership, by stating that a church could be Southern Baptist only if it “does not affirm, appoint or employ a woman as a pastor of any kind.”

Organizations: Southern Baptist Convention, Fern Creek Baptist, Saddleback Church, Southern Baptist Locations: America, Fern Creek, Fern Creek Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky, Southern California, New Orleans, Southern

☆ GOP Freedom Caucus is reaping its reward for holding House speaker election ransom, with even holdout Boebert given plum committee role
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

GOP Freedom Caucus members initially held out on voting for Kevin McCarthy for House speaker. Many have now received key appointments, including Lauren Boebert on the Oversight Committee. Boebert and several other Freedom Caucus Republicans have been given seats on the House Oversight Committee, the main oversight body in the House of Representatives. Reps. Byron Donalds, Paul Gosar, and Scott Perry, other members of the Freedom Caucus, were also put on the committee, Axios reported. Members of the Freedom Caucus, which include vocal Trump supporters and 2020 election deniers, repeatedly refused to support McCarthy in his bid for House speaker.

☆ Rep. Mike Rogers apologizes to Matt Gaetz for losing temper during chaotic speaker votes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julie-Tsirkin-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julie Tsirkin | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Mike Rogers, R-Ala., on Sunday publicly resolved their differences after tensions boiled over on the House floor late Friday night during the votes for House speaker. Rogers was physically restrained after he charged towards Gaetz. After Gaetz voted present in the 14th ballot, McCarthy approached Gaetz in the back of the chamber, where a tense exchange occurred, a number of Republican lawmakers crowding them. Rogers, the incoming chairman of the powerful Armed Services Committee, then walked over and appeared to lunge in the direction of Gaetz, but was physically restrained by Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., before storming away. McCarthy ultimately gained the votes to secure the speakership in the 15th ballot, when Gaetz and several other McCarthy opponents switched their votes to “present.”

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