Mike Johnson was pressed on the meeting by the president, Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, but he did not change his position.
President Joe Biden’s meeting with the four congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday was “one of the most tense I’ve ever encountered,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters, as the two branches’ leaders try to find a compromise on Ukraine funding and avert a partial shutdown.
The House speaker said after the meeting that aid to Ukraine cannot be a priority, the main issues for Congress remain domestic issues – border security and funding the government.
Schumer expressed displeasure that Johnson was linking the aid package to the US southern border, saying Democrats “wanted to deal with the border and have a tough border security plan.” Johnson, he said, “tried to do the border for six months and couldn’t get a single Democratic vote.”
The Senate passed a bill on aid to Ukraine and Israel earlier this month, but Johnson has said he has no plans to bring it to the floor, and a significant number of GOP House members oppose further aid to Ukraine.
Before leaving for the White House on Tuesday, Johnson said he was optimistic that a shutdown would be avoided. Asked whether the work would be discontinued, he told reporters:
No, we are going to work to prevent that.
After meeting with Biden and other leaders, Johnson said he believes Congress “should take care of America’s needs first” before considering foreign aid, including a specific solution to the border situation – despite refusing to hold a vote on a bipartisan Senate bill aimed at doing just that.
The Republican speaker was criticised by the Biden administration for refusing to hold a vote on the Senate’s supplemental national security aid package, which includes border funding in addition to aid to Ukraine and Gaza.
