Tensions over Ukraine, border overshadow shutdown at White House meeting

Deep divisions between Democratic and Republican leaders over Ukraine and border security were laid bare at the White House Tuesday — overshadowing efforts to head off a government shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), emerging from a meeting with President Biden and other top congressional figures, argued that Ukraine will lose its war with Russia if U.S. aid is not replenished soon, 

The U.S. cannot “afford to wait a month or two months or three months because we [are] likely to lose a war, NATO would be fractured at best, allies would turn away from the United States,” Schumer told reporters gathered outside the West Wing.

Schumer said that the Democrats at the meeting had told Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to “get it done” in relation to Ukraine aid.

But Johnson, speaking moments later, told the media, “We must take care of America’s needs first. When you talk about America’s needs you have to talk first about our open border.”

Johnson characterized the current situation at the southern border as a “catastrophe.”

Democrats acknowledge action is needed at the border, where encounters between border patrol agents and unauthorized migrants are at or near all-time highs. But they contend that solving the vexing politics of the issue will take time, which Ukraine cannot spare.

Schumer argued it was not “logical” for the two issues to be interdependent. Johnson, heading a fractious Republican conference, appears unwilling to consider standalone aid for Ukraine.

Johnson also said he had a one-on-one meeting with the president, separate from the encounter with Biden, Schumer, Vice President Harris, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) walks toward reporters outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 after meeting with President Biden, Vice President Harris and Congressional leaders to discuss the first deadline to fund the federal government and to prevent a shutdown. (Greg Nash)

Aid to Ukraine is imperiled despite the Senate’s passage of a $95 billion measure earlier this month. That package included $60 billion for Ukraine as well as $14 billion for Israel.

But the proposal has so far languished in the House, where Johnson has declined to bring it to the floor.

Funding Ukraine’s fight to repel Russia’s invasion, which was launched two years ago, has grown unpopular among some Republicans, especially those aligned with former President Trump.

“The consequences of inaction every day in Ukraine are dire,” Biden warned in brief remarks to the media at the start of the meeting.

The congressional leaders sounded a positive tone on the efforts to avoid a government shutdown, however.

Unless a deal is struck soon, a first wave of impact would see funding for agriculture, transportation and some veterans’ issues pause after midnight on Friday. A second, more biting wave would come March 8, when funding for the Pentagon, the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security would lapse.

The White House is insistent that a shutdown should be avoided. The president warned on Tuesday that a shutdown “would damage the economy significantly.”

Republican leaders say they too want to avoid a shutdown.

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Johnson told reporters he was “very optimistic” that a deal could happen to “get that job done.”

McConnell did not address the media after the White House meeting but, speaking on the Senate floor on Monday, he warned his Republican colleagues that “shutting down the government is harmful to the country. And it never produces positive outcomes — on policy or politics.”

However, hard-line GOP House members are pushing to insert their priorities into any spending deal on “culture war” issues such as abortion.

Schumer characterized the shutdown element of Tuesday’s meeting as “productive,” adding, “We are making good progress.”

The Speaker said “unequivocally” he wants to avoid a government shutdown, Schumer added.

Tuesday’s meeting was also an opportunity for the president to make the case for continued aid to Israel.

There is resistance on the left of the Democratic Party to unconditional aid for Israel, given the colossal death toll in Gaza and the displacement of roughly 80 percent of the territory’s population. 

“We have to replenish the air defenses for Israel and we have to work on making sure that they…can face the threat from what’s going on, not just from Hamas but from Iran,” Biden said at the outset of Tuesday’s meeting.

Israel’s assault on Gaza, which the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry estimates has killed almost 30,000 people, followed the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, which killed about 1,200 people.

Biden said on Monday that he was hoping for a ceasefire in Gaza by Monday. However, on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that both Israel and Hamas appeared to be playing down the chances of a deal.

Biden’s policies regarding Israel and the Palestinians face an electoral test in Michigan on Tuesday, where progressive activists who believe he has been too pro-Israel are calling for voters in the Democratic primary to vote “uncommitted.”