President Joe Biden and top U.S. officials are pushing House Speaker Mike Johnson for a vote on what the White House says is a critically needed funding bill for Ukraine's war against Russia that is opposed by former President Donald Trump.
Trump's opposition to the Senate-approved $95.34 billion military aid package for Ukraine and Israel means that it may never be voted on in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The bill will also fund U.S. troops in the Middle East, humanitarian aid in Gaza and defense companies and submarine manufacturing in the United States, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the White House on Wednesday in a rare press conference.
He laid responsibility for the bill's future entirely on Johnson, who controls what bills are taken up for a vote. "If that vote comes to the floor ... it will pass on an overwhelming bipartisan basis, just as it did in the Senate," Sullivan said.
It passed the Senate in a 70-29 vote shortly before dawn on Tuesday.
Johnson indicated again on Wednesday he has no immediate plans to allow the chamber to vote on the package, saying "we're not going to be forced into action by the Senate."
Ukrainian troops on the front line are already rationing ammunition, Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday. "Each passing day, each passing week the cost of inaction from the United States ... is rising,” Sullivan said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused Johnson of being "confused" by his role. "I think the speaker doesn't understand what his job is. Put that bill to the floor," she said.
Asked about Johnson wanting to meet directly with Biden, Jean-Pierre said the president met with congressional leadership just a month ago. "It's almost as if the speaker is negotiating with himself, truly," she added.
VALENTINE'S DAY POEM
In a sign of the growing enmity between the White House and Johnson, Biden's White House sent out a Valentine's Day social media post to Johnson on Wednesday afternoon, mocking his decision to block bipartisan border legislation.
"Roses are red, violets are blue, the border deal was crushed, because of you," said a message on the official White House account on X, formerly Twitter.
Senate Republicans last week blocked a bill that would have coupled aid for Ukraine and other allies with the most sweeping changes to border policy in decades, after Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, loudly criticized that deal, sinking months of bipartisan negotiations.
Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, had praised the deal as the best lawmakers were likely agree on.
Shortly after that vote, hardline Republicans including Johnson resumed their demands that Ukraine aid be conditioned on changes in border policy. Johnson on Tuesday dismissed the prior deal as insufficient.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is asking Johnson to bring it up for a vote in the chamber, which his party narrowly controls. Both houses of Congress must approve the legislation before Biden can sign it into law.
STATE SUPPORT?
The White House is sending Biden surrogates in coming days to states that would benefit from the funding for American defense companies to make the case that the U.S. economy stands to gain if the package is approved. Several top U.S. officials lobbied for the bill on Wednesday.
Biden national security spokesperson John Kirby and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pushed for the bill on Wednesday. Current and former national security aides also will participate, a senior administration official said.
Vice President Kamala Harris was expected to make the case for the legislation while on a trip to the Munich Security Conference this week.
Biden, in remarks on Tuesday, said that while the weaponry would help Ukraine, the money would be spent in the United States "in places like Arizona, where the Patriot missiles are built; and Alabama, where the Javelin missiles are built; and Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas, where artillery shells are made."
Biden argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin stands to gain if the money is not approved.
"Supporting this bill is standing up to Putin, opposing it is playing into Putin's hands," he said Tuesday.
