Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) joined President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Democratic congressional leaders to corner House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in an “intense” White House meeting.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) both told reporters that the meeting, meant to help avert a government shutdown, was unique for its intensity. The intensity came from the united front advocating immediate aid to Ukraine.
“The meeting on Ukraine was one of the most intense I’ve ever encountered in my many meetings in the Oval Office,” Schumer said.
He added that McConnell was the first to speak, followed by the four others.
The five “made it so clear how vital this was to the United States,” Schumer said. “This was so so important, and that we couldn’t afford to wait a month, or two months, or three months, because we would more [than] likely… lose the war.
“And so we said to the speaker, ‘Get it done,’” he added. “I told him this is one of the moments, I said, ‘I’ve been around here a long time. It’s maybe four or five times that history is looking over your shoulder, and if you don’t do the right thing, whatever the immediate politics are, you will regret it.’ I told him two years from now and every year after that because, really, it’s in his hands. It’s in his hands.”
Jeffries echoed Schumer’s words, saying, “It was an intense meeting. It was an honest meeting.”
Johnson described the meeting in less severe terms, saying it was “frank and honest” before focusing reporters’ attention on the border crisis.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Johnson and Biden had a one-on-one in the immediate aftermath of the meeting, something the House speaker also mentioned.
“[Biden] pulled him to the side while the other three left,” she said at the White House press briefing, adding, “They had a moment.”
Though McConnell didn’t take part in the post-meeting press conference, he has already drawn flak from within the Senate over his siding with the Democratic leaders against Johnson.
“Why is the Senate Republican leader negotiating for the Democrat leader?” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said in a post on X. “If neither Chuck Schumer nor Mitch McConnell will fight for border security, something has got to give.”
Though Johnson has voiced support for aid to Ukraine, many House Republicans object to it to the extent that a rebellion could occur if he were to bring it to a vote, even risking his ousting as speaker. Senate Republicans have been more supportive of aid to Ukraine with only a few exceptions, with McConnell being its leading advocate.
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Hard-line conservatives in the House argue that border security must be addressed first before aid to Ukraine or any other foreign country is considered. The funding bill that Johnson is refusing to bring to vote dedicates several times more money to Ukraine than border security.
In a war that has been characterized broadly as a stalemate since Ukrainian gains in September 2022, Russia has startled observers with a series of battlefield victories over the past month, which culminated in the taking of the key fortress city of Adviivka on Feb. 17. It has followed up on that with steady gains across the front, leading to growing concern in Kyiv and the West. Ukrainian leadership has blamed the losses on faltering Western aid, increasing the feeling of urgency in Congress and the White House.