Biden, lawmakers to meet over possible shutdown, Ukraine aid, border issues

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will meet with top congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday to discuss how to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government on Saturday, to urge House approval of Ukraine aid and to talk about U.S. border policies.

Biden called the meeting after a government funding deal between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) collapsed Sunday after Johnson balked under pressure from his right flank.

Biden also will press Johnson on the $95 billion in supplemental funding that sends $60 billion to Ukraine, which has passed in the Senate but has stalled in the House amid opposition among some Republicans who insist a solution to the border crisis must come first.

And the meeting will include discussion of what to do about migrants and immigration policy, just two days before both Biden and his presumptive Republican opponent Donald Trump make separate trips to the U.S. border with Mexico.

What transpires this week after the meeting, which also will include Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), comes amid a crowded congressional schedule that could have serious ramifications for both parties.

Deal or no deal 

 Unless Congress acts this week, government funding expires in two looming deadlines — the first for about a fifth of federal departments and agencies at midnight this Friday and the second for the rest of them a week later at midnight on March 8.

The Senate reconvened Monday after the two-week congressional recess, but the House will not return until Wednesday — two days ahead of the first deadline, though negotiations continue behind the scenes.

“Senate Democrats want to do the right thing and keep the government open. I hope the House continues to work with us in good faith to make that happen,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday. “But time is short.”

In a letter Sunday after the talks broke down, Schumer blamed “extremists” in the Republican caucus, prompting Johnson to issue a statement saying “many of the points still being debated come from new Democrat demands.”

The two sides disagree on several issues — substantive and procedural.

Republicans, for example, oppose Democrats’ addition of hundreds of millions of dollars in WIC funding to states for low-income pregnant women and young children. And Democrats oppose Republicans’ inclusion of social issue riders, including federal abortion funding bans.

The landscape

Lawmakers face a packed schedule as they wrestle over finding a way to fund the government.

Congress has kicked passage of appropriations down the road three times since the 2024 fiscal year began on Oct. 1, and lawmakers might need to pass yet another short-term spending bill to keep the government open as they seek a compromise on its funding.

Both parties would negotiate the length of any short-term spending deal.

Some Republicans said they want an extension through April, which would automatically require a 1% cut across the board for all federal spending that arose from a spending deal struck by Democrats and former House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.)

Meanwhile, Biden’s State of the Union speech is scheduled for March 7, the day before the second government funding deadline. Some Republicans have called on Johnson to cancel the speech.

And Johnson must decide how soon the House will transmit to the Senate the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that it passed before the recess.

Schumer will need to determine whether to hold an impeachment trial or refer the matter to a committee to squelch it.