By Aneri Upadhyay
Staff Writer
Four Congressmen met with President Joe Biden on March 5 to discuss avoiding a government shutdown, and Biden warned House Speaker Mike Johnson of what could happen if aid was delayed to Ukraine and Israel.
According to AP News, Biden hoped to resolve a logjam in Capitol Hill that could affect Ukraine as their ammunition gets lower.
“The need is urgent. The consequences of inaction every day in Ukraine are dire,” Biden said during the meeting.
Biden met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Johnson and Vice President Kamala Harris were also present. They met for an hour, and Biden spoke with Johnson in private afterwards.
Schumer spoke on the urgency of sending aid for Ukraine, according to AP News.
“We said to the speaker, ‘get it done,’” said Schumer. “I said I’ve been around here a long time, it’s maybe four or five times that history is looking over your shoulder and if you don’t do the right thing, whatever the immediate politics are, you will regret it.”
McConnell voted for a $95 billion foreign aid bill that passed the Senate 70-29, but received no response from the House. This bill would have aided Ukraine and Israel, updated the U.S. defense systems and given aid to conflict areas such as the West Bank and Gaza. Johnson, however, was more focused on the U.S.-Mexico border, calling securing it “the first priority.”
Two months ago, Johnson and Schumer also agreed to a $1.59 trillion spending level for the fiscal year, according to Reuters. However, Johnson has had trouble passing funding bills in the House due to political infighting.
A White House statement was issued after the meeting between Biden and the Congressmen. It affirmed that Biden “discussed how Ukraine has lost ground on the battlefield in recent weeks and is being forced to ration ammunition and supplies due to congressional inaction."
The issue of funding is also not specific to one department. According to Reuters, money reserved for agriculture and transportation agencies ran out on March 1, while funding for the Pentagon and State Department ran out on March 8. This funding is separate from funding for foreign aid.
According to AP News, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre released a statement in which she said that a spending plan agreement would help prevent a shutdown.
“As the President and Congressional Leaders made clear at yesterday’s meeting, we cannot allow a government shutdown,” she said.
There are six bills proposed to control spending levels. These bills regard Veterans Affairs and the Department of Agriculture, Transportation, Interior and others. The other bills regard the Pentagon, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and the State Department.
According to NPR, these bills were passed on March 8. Details are currently being worked on that must be approved by March 22. Despite attempts to block the package, it was passed before a government shutdown could occur.
