Johnson Likely To Target Energy Policy Wins In New Ukraine Aid Package

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) confirmed on Sunday that he expects to move a Ukraine aid package with “some important innovations” after the House of Representatives returns on April 9.

• Johnson: "We’ve been talking to all the members... When we return after this work period, we’ll be moving a [supplemental] product...”
• Due to the razor thin GOP majority, and the risk of a conservative rebellion, Johnson has little leverage to push for significant policy wins. The package is likely to resemble the USD$95 billion Senate package with some restructured revenue sources and measures to roll back some of Biden's energy policies with the Biden administration’s pause on LNG exports would be a likely target.
• Johnson said he wants to “unleash American energy… to have natural gas exports that will help unfund Vladimir Putin’s war effort there, you know.”
• Johnson indicated the bill could include measures to seize frozen Russian sovereign assets, similar to the bipartisan REPO Act which has been endorsed by the White House: "...if we can use the seized assets of Russian oligarchs to allow the Ukrainians to fight them, that’s just pure poetry.”
• Note: As most of the roughly USD$300 billion in frozen assets are in European capitals, any meaningful move to target Russian assets would require European buy-in.
• On restructuring some grants into loans, endorsed by former President Donald Trump: “...we’re not just giving foreign aid, we’re setting it up in a relationship where they can provide it back to us when the time is right.”