WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden hosted top congressional leaders at the White House to underscore Ukraine’s security needs as it continues to fight Russia’s nearly 2-year-old invasion, hoping to add momentum to efforts to pass $110 billion in stalled aid to Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies.
But Speaker Mike Johnson, in one of his few direct encounters with the president, used the face-to-face moment to push Biden for tougher border security measures, with the speaker telling him that GOP lawmakers were demanding “substantive policy change” and insisting that the White House’s executive actions on immigration had weakened the border.
The dueling focus from the two leaders highlighted the precarious nature of the complicated talks to unlock Ukraine aid, which is hinging on negotiations to enact tougher measures at the U.S.-Mexico border to satisfy Republicans who are otherwise hesitant about sending more aid abroad. While Biden, Johnson and other lawmakers who went to the White House agree broadly on continuing to support Kyiv and implementing restrictions at the border, the two sides have remained at odds on details, with the speaker pushing the White House and Senate negotiators on immigration measures that go beyond what Biden is willing to accept.
“We understand that there’s concern about the safety, security and sovereignty of Ukraine,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting, which ran for more than 80 minutes and included senior congressional leaders and top lawmakers on national security committees. “But the American people have those same concerns about our own domestic sovereignty and our safety and our security.”
Inside the Cabinet Room meeting, Biden again made clear to lawmakers what he had said in public for weeks: That the border is broken and that significant changes are needed, according to attendees.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also speaking to reporters after the meeting, emphasized Biden’s willingness to compromise that any effort in a divided Congress must be bipartisan. House Republicans have called for passage of a hardline border security measure in exchange for Ukraine aid, though no Democrats support it. After the meeting, Johnson noted that GOP lawmakers were not insisting on a “particular name of a piece of legislation.”
“There was tremendous focus on Ukraine and an understanding that if we don’t come to Ukraine’s aid, that the consequences for America around the globe would be nothing short of devastating,” Schumer said following the meeting. The Senate Democratic leader said there was “large agreement” among attendees that Congress needed to act on both Ukraine and the U.S. southern border.
Part of the thinking behind the meeting was to populate it with national security leaders, to impress upon Johnson the importance of the aid package and the current U.S. approach to world affairs. So during Wednesday’s meeting, members of Biden’s national security team sought to underscore the real impact that fading U.S. support is having on the battlefield for Ukraine.
White House officials detailed for lawmakers that Ukrainian forces are running low on key weapons, including arms that the Ukrainians have no choice but to use because of the current nature of the fight, according to two U.S. officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity to discuss the private talks.
