In what participants described as an “intense” meeting Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden stressed to congressional leaders the urgency of passing a national security funding package to help defend Ukraine and Israel and of avoiding a looming U.S. government shutdown.
"I think the consequence of inaction every day in Ukraine is dire," Biden said ahead of his meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
"I think that it's Congress' responsibility to fund the government," Biden said. "We got to get about doing it. A shutdown would damage the economy significantly, and I think we all agree to that. And we need bipartisan solutions.
Afterward, Schumer, a longtime senator, said the Ukraine discussions were particularly animated.
"The meeting on Ukraine was one of the most intense meetings I've ever encountered in many meetings in the Oval Office," he told reporters.
He said that not supporting Ukraine will show allies they cannot depend on the United States.
The Democrat-led Senate passed a bipartisan $95 billion security bill earlier this month that includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, nearly $5 billion to support partners in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, and other assistance.
The White House has spent much of this year pushing Congress to pass the bill, and several administration officials have stressed that there is no backup plan to help Ukraine if the bill does not pass.
"We need it now," said John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser. "I won't even begin to speculate about what would be too late. We're already in some ways, too late. They lost the town of Avdiivka because of – literally – because of ammunition. So in some ways, it's already having a dramatic effect."
Johnson has pledged not to bring the bill up for a vote in the House, saying the American people want lawmakers to focus on domestic problems, including border security, instead of sending assistance overseas.
After the group meeting, Johnson met briefly with Biden privately. Afterward, he gave no indication that he would move toward a vote on the aid package. But he said Congress has been working in "good faith" and "around the clock" every single day for weeks and months to "get the job done."
"The first priority of the country is our border and making sure it's secure," he said. "I believe the president can take executive authority right now, today, to change that. And I told him that again today in person, as I've said to him many times, publicly and privately over the last several weeks. It's time for action. It is a catastrophe, and it must stop, and we will get the government funded, and we'll keep working on that."
The White House pushed back, saying Johnson's demands for the border are unclear.
"I don't even think he knows what he wants," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. "And I say that very seriously."
Advocates were quick to lay blame for a possible shutdown on Republicans who belong to former President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" camp.
"Reportedly 95% of the budget deal is done, and extreme MAGA poison pill demands are the outstanding topics in the negotiations," said Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of Public Citizen and co-chair of the Clean Budget Coalition. "That their contentious, unpopular riders are the sticking point means that the House GOP would be directly responsible for any shutdown."
The leaders face a Friday night deadline to agree on funding for some parts of the government, including agriculture, transportation and some veterans' services. Another deadline awaits a week later, when funding for the rest of the government is set to expire.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
