President Joe Biden held a meeting with the top four leaders of Congress at the White House on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters, as leaders of the two branches of government try to compromise on the issue. “It was one of the most intense talks I have ever encountered,” he told the group. Ukraine is providing funding and working to avoid a partial shutdown.
Schumer said “the five of us'' — himself, the president, Vice President Kamala Harris, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — “wanted how important this is to America.'' “I made it clear.''
What the statement doesn't say is the implication that the only person resisting additional aid to Ukraine, which is in its third year of war with Russia, is House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Asked what made the meeting so tense, Schumer said it was “urgency.” He said he was “disturbed” by his recent visit to Ukraine because the country is “fighting without arms against a brutal dictator.”
“I was surprised by the intensity in that room, the passion of the president, the vice president, Leader Jeffries, Leader McConnell and myself,” Schumer said.
Schumer expressed frustration with Johnson tying the aid package to the U.S. southern border, saying Democrats “wanted to solve the border problem and come up with a tough, secure border plan.” He said Johnson “worked on the border issue for six months and didn't get a single Democratic vote.”
Prior to the meeting, Biden emphasized the need for continued support for Ukraine. Before the meeting, Biden said the consequences of failing to pass additional aid legislation would be “dire.”
The Senate passed a Ukraine and Israel aid bill earlier this month, but Prime Minister Johnson has said he has no intention of bringing the bill to the floor, and a significant number of House Republicans oppose further aid to Ukraine. ing.
Before heading to the White House on Tuesday, Prime Minister Johnson said he was optimistic a government shutdown could be avoided. Asked if there would be closures, he told reporters: “No, we will work to prevent that.”
After his meeting with Biden and other leaders, Johnson said Congress would “not allow a vote on the bipartisan Senate bill before addressing foreign aid, including specifically addressing the border situation,” despite refusing to vote on the bipartisan Senate bill. “We must address the needs of the United States first,” he said. It aims to do just that.
The Republican chairman has drawn criticism from the Biden administration for refusing to vote on a Senate-passed supplemental national security aid package that includes aid for Ukraine and Gaza, as well as funding for the border.
Johnson also told reporters that he met privately with Biden in the Oval Office for a “period of time” after Tuesday's meeting with Congressional leaders, but he did not decide whether to bring the bill to a vote in the House of Commons. did not answer questions about it. .
But he placed the blame on the White House, insisting on Tuesday that he believes Biden “can seize executive power right now, today” to tackle border issues.
In a floor speech on Monday, Schumer urged House Republican leaders to “resist from making choices based on what people like Donald Trump want Congress to do” and force a partial government shutdown or He called for critical funding legislation to be passed before Ukraine collapses in the Russian war.
McConnell warned on Monday that a partial shutdown would be “detrimental to the country” and argued it was “completely avoidable” if the House and Senate could work together.
Senators returned to Washington, D.C., on Monday, but the House won't return until Wednesday, leaving little time before Friday's fast-approaching deadline.
Lawmakers had expected to release the text of the bipartisan spending deal Sunday night, but the bill has yet to be made public, leaving Johnson, R-Louisiana, under tremendous pressure from the right. As a result, high-level disagreements over policy issues remain. Conservatives win.
Congress faces two shutdown deadlines, March 1 and March 8, after passing short-term funding legislation in January. Funding for a range of key government agencies will expire at the end of Friday if lawmakers don't act.
Sources said Johnson proposed moving a stopgap spending bill ahead of Friday's first funding deadline to buy time for negotiators to finalize a long-term spending deal. His proposal to the White House, first reported by Punchbowl News, would extend the initial funding deadline for four government agencies from March 1st to March 8th, with the remaining deadlines set for March 22nd. It was decided that it would be postponed to.
But a spokesperson for the Speaker's Office warned that Johnson would only be willing to table another continuing resolution if MPs were able to reach a greater agreement on spending.
“Any [continuing resolution] This is part of a larger agreement to finalize a number of spending bills and will allow sufficient time for drafting and for members to consider before voting.” said the person.
In the House of Commons, facing a historically slim majority and an increasingly bellicose right wing, Johnson has little room to maneuver.
Hardline conservatives have revolted over Congress's earlier passage of a stopgap funding bill and the top-line deal the speaker struck with Schumer that set total spending at nearly $1.66 trillion. ing.
Johnson wins the gavel after conservatives ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in a historic vote last year, with the Louisiana Republican facing similar threats to the speakership someday There are doubts as to whether it will.
Funding has been extended through March 1 for a range of government agencies including Agriculture, Energy, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, as well as other priorities such as the Food and Drug Administration and military construction. Ru.
Additional government agencies and programs will be funded through March 8, including the Departments of Justice, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, State, Education, Interior, Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Legislature. .
This article and heading have been updated with additional developments.
CNN's Manu Raju, Melanie Zanona, Kristin Wilson, Morgan Rimmer, Haley Talbot, Donald Judd and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.