"We were very clear": the White House responds to Speaker Johnson's statement on innovations in the Ukraine project

The administration of US President Joe Biden has expressed its position on the statement by Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson that the aid package for Ukraine may contain "some important innovations," including possible loan assistance. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre urged the House Speaker to move forward with the Senate-approved bill to help Kyiv.

She said this during a briefing. Answering a question about whether President Biden would sign the bill with "innovations" if it was the only way to decide on aid to Ukraine, the White House spokeswoman said that the Administration's position was unequivocal.

"We have been very clear. We believe that if the Speaker puts the national security rider to a vote – obviously, it includes Ukraine, humanitarian aid, Israel, the Indo-Pacific – we believe, and it's a fact, that it will have a majority of bipartisan support on the House floor," she said.

Karine Jean-Pierre reminded that the Ukraine aid package received the votes of 70 senators against 29, which indicates its bipartisan support.

"And this is how we think it should be further developed. I'm just not going to go into hypotheses," she summarized.

It is worth noting that Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson announced "important innovations" in the package of support for Ukraine. In particular, it may include providing aid on credit, ostensibly to ease Republican concerns.

As a reminder, the approval of more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine by the US Congress is being blocked by Republicans in the House of Representatives. The White House has repeatedly warned that this would significantly harm Kyiv's military efforts on the battlefield.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, the day before, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner said that Johnson had promised to put up a package of aid to Ukraine for a vote after the Easter recess on April 9, and he also told the NATO Secretary General about it with words of support for Ukraine.

On March 28, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a phone conversation with Mike Johnson, describing the situation at the front and emphasizing that the rapid adoption of an aid package for Ukraine was critical.

In late March, the U.S. Government Accountability Office published an audit report on the aid given to Ukraine, recommending that the U.S. government introduce a process to better track funding.

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