House Speaker Mike Johnson is committed to putting a vote for Ukraine war funding on the floor after Easter, but his seeming lack of urgency in the matter is because he has been in a "difficult spot," including now with a motion for him to vacate the chair, Rep. Michael McCaul said Sunday.
"I believe he's committed because he understands national security," the Texas Republican said on CBS News' "Face the Nation." "He leans on, you know, myself, the Chairman of Armed Services, House Intelligence for advice on this and he knows how important this is."
McCaul added that he would like to see the funding bill approved as soon as possible.
"I think the situation in Ukraine is dire," he said. "If we lose in Ukraine like Afghanistan and lose to [Vladimir] Putin let him take over Ukraine and Moldova, Georgia and abandon our allies like we did in Afghanistan, does that make the United States weaker or stronger? I think weaker."
The motion to vacate was introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Friday in opposition to Johnson's support of the $1.2 trillion spending bill, and so far, she's the only person to call for his removal.
McCaul said Sunday that the motion may have difficulty gaining traction, considering the Republicans' slim majority in the House and the potential of losing the GOP's balance of power.
"I think indicative that even Matt Gaetz, who is the architect of ousting [Kevin] McCarthy, is saying this would be a huge mistake because he could actually throw the balance of power over to Hakeem Jeffries," said McCaul. "I think that's one argument. The other argument is we don't need dysfunction right now. With the world on fire, the way it is we need to govern, and that is not just for Republicans, but in a bipartisan way to get things done for the country that's in the national security interest of the United States. This is not just Ukraine, it's Israel and Indo-Pacific as well."
McCaul on Sunday also discussed last week's attack on a Moscow concert hall by ISIS-K, an Afghan-linked offshoot of the terrorist group, and said that he does believe that the group will continue to target U.S. interests.
"I think Europe is of concern and it's sort of like we're going back to that old playbook where history repeats itself," said McCaul. "That's why the fall of Afghanistan, the way it was done, and the way we left it with no ISR capability, that is intelligence surveillance reconnaissance, puts us in danger, where this is a new battleground training ground for ISIS."
Meanwhile, McCaul said he is very concerned about the threat level the United States faces on multiple continents.
"In Haiti, our embassy is under threat right now," he said. "We're starting to evacuate them. You know what happened in Afghanistan, the generals are very clear. It wasn't the DoD, it was a State Department that never came up with a plan of evacuation, which by law they're required to do."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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