Biden and party leaders implore Speaker Johnson to help Ukraine in ‘intense’ Oval Office meeting
WASHINGTON — President Biden implored the top four leaders of Congress Tuesday to act quickly to avoid a looming government shutdown early next month and to pass emergency aid for Ukraine and Israel, as a legislative logjam in the GOP-led House showed no signs of abating.
Biden hosted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the Oval Office along with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The need is urgent,” Biden said of the Ukraine aid. “The consequences of inaction every day in Ukraine are dire.”
He noted that Israel also needs U.S. funding to replenish its supply of Iron Dome interceptors that it uses to protect against inbound rockets.
Republicans in the House have thus far refused to bring up the $95-billion national security package that bolsters aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. That measure cleared the Senate on a bipartisan 70-29 vote this month, but Johnson has resisted scheduling it for a vote in the House.
President Biden has signaled that a cease-fire in Gaza could be at hand, but Israel and Hamas indicate no deal is imminent.
CIA Director William Burns also joined Tuesday’s meeting. Burns has played key roles coordinating the U.S. response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Apart from the national security package, government funding for agriculture, transportation, military construction and some veterans’ services expires Friday. And funding for the rest of the government, including the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, expires a week later, on March 8, the day after Biden is set to deliver his State of the Union address.
“It’s Congress’ responsibility to fund the government,” Biden added. “A government shutdown would damage the economy significantly. We need a bipartisan solution.”
The Senate’s top two leaders also urged that the government be kept open. Parts of the government could start to scale back operations as early as Friday unless a deal is reached on spending and legislation is sent to Biden for his signature.
Schumer said outside the West Wing the meeting was one of the most intense he’d ever had in the Oval Office. The leaders spoke of the need to fund Ukraine and avoid a shutdown, and also discussed border security.
President Biden has signed a short-term spending bill that keeps the federal government operating until early March.
“We are making good progress,” Schumer said. “The speaker said unequivocally he wants to avoid a government shutdown.”
He described the president, vice president, McConnell, Jeffries and his own effort to implore the speaker to pass Ukraine funding urgently.
“We made it clear how vital this was to the United States, this was so, so important, and that we couldn’t afford to wait a month or two months or three months, because we would in all likelihood lose the war, NATO would be fractured at best, allies would turn away from the United States, and the boldest leaders, the boldest autocrats of the world ... would be emboldened,” he said.
But Johnson, in brief remarks outside the West Wing following the Democrats, didn’t mention Ukraine funding. He described discussing the border and government funding in the meeting as well as a one-on-one with Biden following the leader discussion.
Congress sent President Biden a short-term spending bill on Thursday that would avert a looming partial government shutdown and fund federal agencies into March.
“The first priority of the country is our border, and making it secure,” Johnson said. Republicans tanked a bipartisan border deal after Donald Trump encouraged them to; the bill would have denied migrants the ability to apply for asylum at the border if the number of daily crossings became unmanageable for authorities, among other major changes.
“It is a catastrophe and it must stop and we will get the government funded and we’ll keep working on that,” he said.
Jeffries said he told the speaker they’d be willing to work on a border deal.
“We all agree we have a broken immigration system and there is a need to address the challenges at the border,” he said.
McConnell, in a Senate floor speech ahead of the meeting, criticized Western nations that “hesitate” to aid Ukraine, but mostly pointed to decisions during the Obama administration not to send military aid to Kyiv.
Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Will Weissert contributed to this report.
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