White House blames Johnson and House GOP for ‘getting in the way’ of Ukraine-border deal

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre went after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Republican lawmakers on Tuesday for “getting in the way” of negotiations in the Senate on a deal linking new Ukraine aid to border security policy reforms.

President Joe Biden met with Johnson and the other “Big Four” congressional leaders at the White House last week, after which Johnson suggested a new openness to the still-in-progress bipartisan immigration reform proposals.

However, reports from over the weekend suggested that House hard-liners and former President Donald Trump are both pressing Johnson to kill any Ukraine-border deal that comes out of the Senate.

Asked about those reports during Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Jean-Pierre told reporters that Johnson and House Republicans must accept bipartisan proposals if they “really want to actually fix this problem.”

“That’s a question for House Republicans. I think we have proven Republicans in the Senate, and Democrats in the Senate have proven that we actually want to work on this issue, on this broken system, and so if they are real about this, if they want to fix this problem, then they would get involved. They would get involved, but they haven’t,” she said. “This is an issue that Americans care about, and they want to see it done in a bipartisan way. That’s what we’re trying to do. That’s what we’ve tried. I don’t know why House Republicans continue to get in the way.”

“There was an agreement with folks in the room that we needed to deal with both issues,” Jean-Pierre added in reference to Biden’s meeting with congressional leaders. “Both issues are really important, and so that’s what I will leave you with, but House Republicans could speak for themselves, and we are saying to them, ‘Why are they getting in the way? Why don’t they come to the table and actually have these negotiations with us as well?’”

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“The White House is actually trying to blame the House going on Christmas recess over a month ago for the Senate’s inability to produce a border security bill,” Johnson spokesman Taylor Haulsee said in response to Jean-Pierre’s comments. “Completely asinine.”

You can watch Tuesday’s briefing in full below.

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