President Joe Biden has called upon the top four congressional leaders and other lawmakers for a meeting at the White House on Wednesday to address the challenges in reaching an agreement on U.S. aid for the Ukraine war.
The discussions have been complicated by Republican insistence on linking the aid to their demands for securing the U.S. border.
A bipartisan group of Senate negotiators has been engaged in weeks-long efforts to forge an agreement that would provide wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel while addressing border security concerns raised by Republicans. The talks faced setbacks last week, with significant disagreements still unresolved.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced that lawmakers, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), were invited to discuss the critical importance of Biden’s national security supplemental requests.
Earlier this month, Biden’s top budget official, Shalanda Young, emphasized the urgent need for Congress to replenish U.S. aid for Ukraine. Young warned that without additional funding approved by Congress, there would be no means to assist Kyiv in its defense against Russia, given the nearly two-year-old war.
While the Pentagon has some limited authority to aid Kyiv without new funding, Young highlighted that it wouldn’t be sufficient to provide substantial equipment to Ukraine. National security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the World Economic Forum, expressing confidence in reaching an agreement on Ukraine aid in the coming weeks.
Sullivan emphasized the necessity of delivering essential resources to Ukraine for the weapons required to achieve desired results. Biden’s $110 billion request for wartime aid has faced resistance from conservatives, with Republicans demanding significant border security changes as a condition for approving the funding. The Biden administration has actively participated in the negotiations to address both Ukraine’s defense needs and border policy concerns.
Facing criticism for his handling of the surge in asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, Biden aims to navigate the complexities of securing support for Ukraine while addressing domestic border security issues, especially as he heads into the re-election year.
