Speaker Johnson says Senate bill on Ukraine aid 'dead on arrival'

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has said that Senate legislation addressing the border and aid to Ukraine and other countries would have been "dead on arrival" in the House, if reports about its terms are true.

He said this in a letter to his colleagues on Friday, Ukrinform reports, citing The Hill.

"I wanted to provide a brief update regarding the supplemental and the border, since the Senate appears unable to reach any agreement. If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway," Johnson said.

The letter comes as Senate Republicans are searching for an alternative plan on how to get aid to Ukraine across the finish line.

Read also: Democrats’ leader in Senate says negotiators inching toward approving Ukraine aid

The Ukraine support, which has its own critics in the GOP, was coupled with border talks as a means of securing its passage. But the coupling has actually made it more difficult for the Ukraine support to move forward, due to seemingly intractable policy and political concerns related to the border talks.

In his letter, the Speaker turned to the next major action coming from House Republicans that will come in retaliation of border policies: impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who Johnson charged has "wilfully ignored and actively undermined our nation’s immigration laws."

Photo: Getty Images