Respect for Speaker Johnson increased after foreign aid approved, says Rep. Michael McCaul

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Sunday that newfound respect has emerged for House Speaker Mike Johnson after the chamber passed his foreign aid package.

“I think the stock in Mike Johnson has gone way up. I think the respect for him has gone way up because he did the right thing, irrespective of his job,” Rep. Michael McCaul, Texas Republican, said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Mr. McCaul said Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, even got some respect from Democrats, who voted with Republicans to pass on Saturday the speaker’s foreign aid package that sends billions of dollars to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

“That’s not what you normally want,” Mr. McCaul said. “It shows you that we’re in a bipartisan era in some strange way where Democrats will be able to back the speaker on the other side of the aisle and not have him vacated out of the chair.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, has threatened Mr. Johnson with a motion to oust him because of his bipartisan work, but has yet to call for a vote.

Mr. McCaul said he thinks Mr. Johnson is “in good shape.”