Joe Biden warned US congressional officials on Tuesday of the “terrible” costs of failing to pass $60 billion in new financial aid for Ukraine, but White House talks collapsed. This did not help resolve the situation.
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The Democratic president organized a meeting in the Oval Office to try to persuade Mike Johnson, the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, to release a vital envelope for Kiev and prevent a paralysis of the American government.
Congressional leaders have been relatively optimistic about the possibility of avoiding a “shutdown,” or closing of the federal government, if a budget agreement is not reached in a timely manner. However, nothing changed in Ukraine, and Mike Johnson stated that the wave of immigration to the southern border of the United States remained a priority.
“The country’s priority is our border” with Mexico, and “we have to take care of America’s needs first,” he told reporters.
Despite the Ukrainian government's increasingly urgent appeals to the West for further support, the United States has failed to provide $60 billion in additional aid.
It is stuck in the House of Representatives, where the shadow of Donald Trump, the ultra-favorite of the Republicans for the election in November, is large, the first to call for tightening immigration laws.
Mike Johnson refuses to put the text in question on the agenda, which also provides for a new financial framework for Israel, humanitarian aid for Gaza and reform of the American migration system.
“Blind obedience”
“We said (Mike Johnson): (…) History looks over your shoulder. And if you don’t do the right thing, you will regret it, regardless of immediate politics,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.
“It’s in his hands,” commented the elected official, who had just returned from a trip to Ukraine.
In a letter, he said that Mike Johnson “cannot let politics or blind obedience to Donald Trump get in his way.”
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Joe Biden stressed “the urgency for Congress to continue to stand with Ukraine.”
The US president also explained “how Ukraine has lost battlefields in recent weeks and is forced to ration its ammunition and supplies due to Congressional inaction,” according to a statement from the House of Representatives. -White at the end of the meeting.
Ukrainian leaders on Sunday called on Western countries to maintain their military aid two years after the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.
The White House, however, announced on Tuesday that “the United States will not send soldiers to fight in Ukraine,” while French President Emmanuel Macron has not ruled out the idea of sending ground troops.
“Real progress”
The president, who hopes to be re-elected to the White House next November, also faces a renewed threat to close the federal administration just two months after the last agreement.
One part of the budget expires on Friday, the other a week later, the day after Joe Biden's State of the Union address.
The right wing of the Republican Party has made no secret of the fact that it would be happy to see this ax fall.
Unpaid air traffic controllers, closed authorities, freezer assistance, unmaintained national parks… The list of possible consequences is long.
On this point, Mike Johnson said he was “optimistic” and specified that elected officials from both sides believe they can “reach an agreement (…) and avoid a 'shutdown.'”
Chuck Schumer welcomed “real progress” and was “cautiously optimistic.”
Deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans, particularly on the right wing, are forcing Congress to act in the short term, highlighting the dysfunction within the American institutional apparatus.
Congress has not approved any of the 12 spending bills in the 2024 federal budget, which took effect nearly five months ago on October 1st.
The solution could again be short-term: keep spending at current levels and extend the deadline, for the fourth time since the start of the budget year.