U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden implored the top four leaders of Congress on February 27 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, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in the Oval Office along with Vice President Kamala Harris.

“The need is urgent,” Mr. 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 Mr. Johnson has resisted scheduling it for a vote in the House.

Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns also joined the meeting. Mr. Burns has played key roles in 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.

Government shutdown looms

Apart from the national security package, government funding for agriculture, transportation, military construction and some veterans’ services expires on March 1. 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,” Mr. 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.

Funding for Ukraine, boder security discussed

Mr. 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, avoid a shutdown and border security.

“We are making good progress,” Mr. Schumer said. “The Speaker said unequivocally he wants to avoid a government shutdown.”

He described Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Jeffries implored 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 Mr. 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 Mr. Biden following the leader discussion. “The first priority of the country is our border, and making it secure,” he 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.

Mr. 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.

Mr. 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.

The House on Saturday swiftly approved a 45-day funding bill to keep federal agencies open as Speaker Kevin McCarthy dropped demands for steep spending cuts.
| Photo Credit: AP

On the brink of a federal government shutdown, the House on Saturday swiftly approved a 45-day funding bill to keep federal agencies open as Speaker Kevin McCarthy dropped demands for steep spending cuts and relied on Democratic votes for passage to send the package to the Senate.

The new approach would leave behind aid to Ukraine, a White House priority opposed by a growing number of GOP lawmakers, but the plan would increase federal disaster assistance by $16 billion, meeting President Joe Biden’s full request. The package was approved 335-91, with most Republicans and almost all Democrats supporting. the bill.

With hours to go before the midnight deadline to fund the government, the Senate was also in for a rare weekend session and prepared to act next.

“We’re going to do our job,” Mr. McCarthy said before the House vote. “We’re going to be adults in the room. And we’re going to keep government open.”

With no deal in place before Sunday, federal workers will face furloughs, more than 2 million active-duty and reserve military troops will work without pay and programs and services that Americans rely on from coast to coast will begin to face shutdown disruptions.

The House measure would fund government at current 2023 levels for 45 days, through Nov. 17, moving closer to the bipartisan approach in the Senate. But the Senate package would have added $6 billion for Ukraine to fight the war against Russia and $6 billion for U.S. disaster relief.

Both chambers came to a standstill as lawmakers assessed their options, some decrying the loss of Ukraine aid.

“The American people deserve better,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, warning in a lengthy floor speech that “extreme” Republicans were risking shutdown.

For the House package to be approved, McCarthy, R-Calif., was forced to rely on Democrats because the speaker’s hard-right flank has said it will oppose any short-term measure, risking his job amid calls for his ouster. Republicans hold a 221-212 majority, with two vacancies.

After leaving his right-flank behind, Mr. McCarthy is almost certain to be facing a motion to try to remove from office, though it is not at all certain there would be enough votes to topple the speaker. Most Republicans backed the package Saturday while fewer than half opposed.

“If somebody wants to remove me because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try,” Mr. McCarthy said of the threat to oust him. “But I think this country is too important.”

The quick pivot comes after the collapse Friday of Mr. McCarthy’s earlier plan to pass a Republican-only bill with steep spending cuts up to 30% to most government agencies that the White House and Democrats rejected as too extreme.

“Our options are slipping away every minute,” said one senior Republican, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida.

The federal government is heading straight into a shutdown that poses grave uncertainty for federal workers in states all across America and the people who depend on them — from troops to border control agents to office workers, scientists and others.

Families that rely on Head Start for children, food benefits and countless other programs large and small are confronting potential interruptions or outright closures. At the airports, Transportation Security Administration officers and air traffic controllers are expected to work without pay, but travellers could face delays in updating their U.S. passports or other travel documents.

An earlier McCarthy plan to keep the government open collapsed Friday due to opposition from a faction of 21 hard-right holdouts despite steep spending cuts of nearly 30% to many agencies and severe border security provisions.

The White House has brushed aside McCarthy’s overtures to meet with Biden after the speaker walked away from the debt deal they brokered earlier this year that set budget levels.

Catering to his hard-right flank, Mr. McCarthy had returned to the spending limits the conservatives demanded back in January as part of the deal-making to help him become the House speaker.

After Friday’s vote, Mr. McCarthy’s chief Republican critic, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, said the speaker’s bill “went down in flames as I’ve told you all week it would.”

Some of the Republican holdouts, including Mr. Gaetz, are allies of former President Donald Trump, who is Mr. Biden’s chief rival in the 2024 race. Mr. Trump has been encouraging the Republicans to fight hard for their priorities and even to “shut it down.”