House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is caught between a rock and Kyiv as the issue of Ukraine aid threatens to become an albatross around his neck. After Iran launched an attack against Israel last Saturday, Congress is under pressure to pass legislation granting more military aid to the Jewish State.

But, as with most debates over aid packages, Ukraine has once again become an issue. Conservative Republican lawmakers have balked at the idea of shelling out more money to Ukraine in its war to repel Russia’s invasion. This has forced the Speaker to pursue another strategy: Appealing to Democrats to provide the votes necessary to get Ukraine funding to the House floor.

Democrats, for their part, have signaled that they might be open to working with the Speaker to ensure that more of our money goes to Ukraine. This could provide a much-needed lifeline to Johnson and the congressoinal Republicans who support continued aid to Kyiv.

Without Democratic help, the separate aid bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — which together closely mirror a bipartisan, Senate-passed foreign aid bill — have no chance at even coming up for a vote. Johnson has said he’ll move the package through the regular process, meaning it has to leap over two major hurdles before passage: the Rules Committee and a procedural vote on the floor.

If all three conservatives on the Rules panel unite with Democrats to oppose it, the bills won’t make it to the floor. And even if the bundle of bills does get through that committee, enough Republicans have already signaled they’ll tank the so-called rule vote on the floor, which would block all four bills.

That’s where Democrats come in. Typically, the majority party is solely responsible for passing rules, both in committee and on the floor. Democrats are bristling that they’re being called upon to help Republicans, but they’re desperate to unstick Ukraine cash, after Johnson has refused to move on a bipartisan Senate-passed foreign aid bill for months.

Rep. Annie Kuster (D-NH) told Politico seemed open to the idea, suggesting that “everybody gets a chance to see it, socialize the substance of it.”

However, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries indicated that Democrats “haven’t met as a caucus yet to discuss.”

But at least one Democratic lawmaker has expressed support for the measures. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said: “After House Republicans dragged their feet for months, we finally have a path forward to provide support for our allies and desperately needed humanitarian aid.”

This could be a critical moment for Speaker Johnson as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) have already signaled that they are close to launching an effort to oust him from his position as Speaker.

The dynamic also increases the likelihood that Mr. Johnson will need Democrats again — to save his precarious speakership, now under threat from two members of his party, Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. They are enraged at his strategy for sending aid to Ukraine and every day appear to be edging closer to calling a vote to oust him from his post.

Meanwhile, conservative members of Congress have also been pursuing funding for border security.

Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Massie met with Johnson on Wednesday to push him to add border into the foreign aid package, instead of as a separate bill. The three conservatives each sit on the Rules Committee, and if they join with Democrats in the committee to oppose it, they can block the foreign aid package. Roy said on X that he would vote against the rule, while Massie declined to say after the meeting if he would support the rule, which sets up the parameters of the House debate.

This is quite the conundrum for Speaker Johnson as he walks a tightrope between appeasing those supporting more aid for Ukraine and conservatives who wish to focus on America’s issues. If he fails to navigate this particular labyrinth, he might meet the same fate as former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.