‘Lead, follow or get out the way’: House speaker urged to act on Ukraine aid bill

A group of congressional Democrats including the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and armed services veterans urged the current Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, to “lead, follow or get out of the way” of more military support for Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders.

“In the military, we have a great expression,” Mikie Sherrill, a House Democrat from New Jersey and a former navy helicopter pilot, told reporters on Capitol Hill. “‘Lead, follow or get out of the way.’ That is exactly what our speaker has to do.”

Last month, Senate Democrats and Republicans passed a $95bn foreign aid package covering Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel.

The Democrats who spoke on Wednesday faced vocal competition from protesters with Code Pink: Women for Peace opposing funding for Israel in its war against Hamas. On Ukraine policy, though, House Republicans have proved more obstructive than Medea Benjamin, the Code Pink co-founder, was able to be at the Capitol.

Under the direction of Donald Trump, the presumptive presidential nominee who openly favors Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, Johnson has shown no sign of bringing the Senate package up for a vote. The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, recently emerged from meeting Trump to say that if Trump is re-elected, he will not give “a penny” to Ukraine.

Trump has said he will encourage Russia to attack US allies he deems not to pay enough to be members of Nato.

House Democrats have lodged discharge petitions, a mechanism by which the speaker can be bypassed. Despite significant Republican support for Ukraine aid such efforts remain unlikely to succeed. On Wednesday, one petition was about 50 votes short of success.

Johnson, Sherrill said, “has to show some leadership and put this bill