US President Joe Biden congratulated Republican Mike Johnson on his election as Speaker of the House of Representatives and urged him to help pass additional funding in Congress, including for Ukraine. Biden’s statement was published on the White House website on 25 October.
In his statement, Joe Biden restated his willingness to work with any speaker of the House of Representatives, regardless of which party he represents.
Joe Biden added that during the election of the Speaker by the House of Representatives, he prepared “a historic supplemental funding package” to strengthen bipartisan US security interests in Israel and Ukraine, protect American borders, and grow the US economy.
On 25 October, Republican Mike Johnson from Louisiana was elected as the new US House of Representatives Speaker.
Mike Johnson repeatedly voted against support for Ukraine in the US Congress, receiving a “very poor” mark from the initiative Republicans for Ukraine. The only pro-Ukrainian legislature that Johson voted for is the Lend-Lease Act of 2022.
The House of Representatives has been without a speaker for more than three weeks after the far-right faction of the Republican Party ousted the previous House speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, on 3 October.
Related: