WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden met with the top four congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday with just days to go until the government shutdown deadline.
“It’s Congress’ responsibility to fund the government,” Biden said at the top of the meeting alongside Vice President Kamala Harris. “A shutdown would damage the economy significantly and I think we all agree to that, and we need a bipartisan solution.”
Democratic leadership left the meeting at the White House, saying it got passionate at times, particularly when the conversation turned to the stalled aid for Ukraine.
The meeting on Ukraine was one of the most intense I’ve ever encountered of my many meetings in the Oval Office,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Schumer said he warned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that history will judge him and the Republican party harshly if he does not act on Ukraine and they lose the war to Russia.
“The intensity in that room was surprising to me because of the passion of the president, the vice president, Leader McConnell and myself,” Schumer said. “We made it clear to him we can’t tarry or the war could be lost.”
Johnson said the House is looking at options on Ukraine and other foreign aid and will “address that in a timely manner.” The President met with Johnson for an hour one-on-one following the big four meeting but the House Speaker did not seem moved.
“The first priority of the country is our border and making sure it’s secure,” Johnson told reporters. “I believe the president can take executive authority right now today to change that, and I told him that again today in person as I’ve said to him many times publicly and privately over the last several weeks.”
“It’s time for action. It is a catastrophe, and it must stop,” the speaker added.
If no deal is reached, the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Transportation, Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, as well as other programs, will all shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday.
