Biden wants to convene congressional leaders as a partial shutdown looms

President Biden will convene the top four leaders of Congress at the White House on Tuesday, as lawmakers are quickly running out of time to strike a deal to avoid another partial government shutdown.

The president plans to discuss the urgency of legislation to continue federal funding after midnight Friday, as well as his requests for billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine and Israel, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“A fundamental priority or obligation of Congress is to keep the government open,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said. “So that’s what the president wants to see. He will have those conversations.”

The spending bill is being held up by demands from far-right lawmakers in the House of Representatives, including measures to restrict access to abortion, which many members will not support. Ultraconservatives have brought the government to the brink of a shutdown or partial shutdown three times in the past six months as they sought to secure more cuts and conservative policy conditions enshrined in how federal money is spent.

As a result, Congress has relied on short-term emergency bills passed by a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to keep the government open, delaying a longer-term deal for weeks. Each time, the Republican chairman assured his conference that Republicans in the House of Representatives would fight to secure more policy victories in the next round of negotiations.

With a pair of more funding deadlines approaching late this week and next week, lawmakers are now trying to reach an agreement on how to fund the government for the rest of the budget year.

There is greater urgency to accomplish the task because the debt ceiling deal struck in May by Kevin McCarthy, the then-speaker, and Mr. Biden, would cut federal spending by 1 percent across the board on April 30 if Congress fails to reach a government deal. before that time. Both Democratic and Republican senators are determined to avoid that scenario because the cuts would mainly hit Pentagon spending, although several anti-spending conservatives have said they would prefer that outcome.

Tuesday’s meeting comes after Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and majority leader, announced Sunday that leaders were unable to reach an agreement this weekend because “House Republicans need more time to to get itself in order.” Speaker Mike Johnson accused Senate Democrats of “trying to spend money at this late stage on priorities that are further to the left than what their chamber agreed on.”

In addition to Mr. Johnson and Mr. Schumer, Mr. Biden will also meet with Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader of the House of Representatives, and Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the Senate minority leader.

Mr. Biden convened congressional leaders at the White House last month in an effort to break the impasse over his additional aid package for Ukraine and Israel, which also included major concessions on immigration policy. The package passed the Senate this month, but Mr Johnson has refused to put the $95 billion foreign aid package to a vote in the House of Representatives.

The government spending package is separate from funding for Ukraine and Israel, but Mr. Biden will make the case for both on Tuesday, Ms. Jean-Pierre said. She declined to say what Mr. Biden planned to discuss with leaders to break the impasse.

“We have done meetings like this before and it got the ball moving,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said, referring to the Senate vote.

“What the president wants to see is that we want to make sure that the national security interests of the American people come first and are not used as a political football,” she said. “We want to make sure this happens.”

The first wave of government funding will run out at midnight Friday, while funding for some agencies, including the Pentagon and the State Department, expires on March 8.

The White House has increased pressure on Mr. Johnson in recent weeks as Ukraine marked the second anniversary of the Russian invasion. Mr. Biden continues to emphasize that Russia’s President, Vladimir V. Putin, poses a global threat.

Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, said on Sunday that he had spoken with Mr. Johnson and that the speaker had indicated he would like to approve financing for Ukraine but was “trying to find a way to do that. ”

“Well, this is one of those cases where one person can change the course of history,” Mr. Sullivan said during an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” adding that the foreign aid package would pass overwhelmingly with bipartisan support if it were approved. a voice.

“Right now it comes down to his willingness to actually take responsibility at this critical time,” Mr. Sullivan said. “And history is watching.”