Congressional leaders from both parties voiced optimism Wednesday about reaching a deal on Ukraine aid and securing the southern border following President Joe Biden’s meeting with the “Big Four” at the White House, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) indicating there may be a path forward on a deal.
Biden met with Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and a host of other lawmakers on Wednesday as negotiators continue to try to reach a deal on Biden’s supplemental request and a government funding bill ahead of the month’s-end deadline.
Johnson and Schumer delivered statements to reporters following the meeting, with Schumer estimating the chances of keeping the government open and funding the president’s supplemental request at “a little greater than half.”
Johnson in particular appeared to slightly soften his position that Democrats get on board with H.R. 2, the immigration bill the House passed in 2023, in order for Republicans to sign off on another tranche of Ukraine aid but stressed that Biden must still enact “substantive” policy changes regarding the border.
“We’re not insistent upon a particular name of a piece of legislation, but we are insistent that the elements have to be meaningful. The House is ready to act. But the legislation has to solve the problem, and that’s the critical point,” he stated.
Johnson added that Republicans “understand the necessity about Ukraine funding” but reiterated that “the border must be the top priority.”
Schumer in turn urged his Republican counterparts to cooperate in bipartisan negotiations.
“The only way we will do border and Ukraine or even either of them is bipartisan. You cannot — cannot — do things with one party in a divided Congress, and so anyone who says — any party — that says, ‘Do it my way or no way,’ we’re not going to get anything done,” he reiterated. “And I think there was broad agreement in the room that we had to do this in a bipartisan way.”
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The White House did not immediately provide a readout of the meeting with lawmakers, but earlier in the day, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the focus of the meeting was Ukraine, not the border, and that the president will “continue to negotiate in good faith, in a bipartisan way with the Senate.”
“This focus on the meeting today is going to be on Ukraine and making sure that Congress, and the congressional members who attend, understand that we need to continue to support Ukraine,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added. “[Biden’s] going to particularly underscore that if we abandon Ukraine, there will be consequences, right, to Ukraine, to the people of Ukraine, to the people who’ve been fighting for their democracy for so long.”