Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., left, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., attend a Menorah lighting to celebrate the eight-day festival of Hanukkah, in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, December 12, 2023.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
President Joe Biden hosted Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the White House Wednesday afternoon to discuss his deadlocked supplemental funding bill for aid to Israel and Ukraine.
Other leaders on the attendee list included Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The president also asked members of relevant congressional committees to join.
“I’m going to tell the President what I’m telling all of you and we’ve told the American people: border, border, border,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday ahead of the meeting.
Congress is already busy this week trying to pass a short-term continuing resolution by Friday to prevent a partial government shutdown.
Biden initially requested a $105 billion supplemental funding package from Congress in October to aid Israel and Ukraine in their respective wars, along with securing Taiwan’s defense systems and the U.S. southern border.
In the ensuing months, the bill has remained at a stalemate in Congress though Biden has tried several times to turn up the pressure. Johnson and Biden spoke on the phone last week about border security, which has become a primary sticking point in the negotiations.
Congressional Republicans demanded more funding for the southern border and less for Ukraine. Democrats have stood by the need for sustaining Ukraine aid, arguing that a Russian victory would pose broader threats to the state of global democracy.
Recent congressional squabbles have led to a near government shutdown, the ousting of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Congress’ holiday recess being cut short.
Johnson will have to find a middle ground if he wants to avoid meeting a similar fate as McCarthy. Conservative Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, has already said that a motion to vacate Johnson is “on the table,” after the speaker announced a bipartisan topline spending deal earlier this month.
Biden has used up the last of his executive funding bucket for Ukraine. The last security assistance package to Ukraine was authorized on Dec. 27, according to National Security Spokesman John Kirby. There is no more U.S. money left for Ukraine until Congress passes the supplemental package.
“There’s no magic pot of money. If we don’t get that money, it’s a real problem. It’s a real problem for Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.