Biden Open To Meeting With Speaker Johnson On Foreign Aid

President Joe Biden said on Monday that he would be willing to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) about a foreign aid package that is making its way through Congress.

The roughly $95 billion bill that would allocate funds to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and other foreign priorities — including humanitarian aid — made it through the Senate last week, but its prospects don’t look favorable in the House.

“I’d be happy to meet with him if he has anything to say,” Biden said when asked about meeting with Johnson about the national security legislation as he returned to the White House from a weekend in Delaware.

Raj Shah, a spokesman for Johnson, said in a post to X that the speaker welcomes Biden’s “reversal and openness to meeting with Speaker Johnson about the best path forward for securing the nation” and looks forward to the White House communicating when the president will be available.

We welcome the President’s reversal and openness to meeting with Speaker Johnson about the best path forward for securing the nation. It’s long overdue.

We look forward to hearing from the WH when he’ll be available for a 1-on-1 meeting that the Speaker has requested for weeks. https://t.co/ko4dHSNUG5

— Raj Shah (@RajShahDC) February 19, 2024

Johnson has criticized the Senate package for a dearth of border security policy changes after an immigration deal was dropped from the legislation once a group of Republicans and leftist senators blocked the larger bill from advancing.

“In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” the speaker said in a statement.

NBC News reported that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) suggested on Tuesday that a meeting between Biden and Johnson could lead to a resolution that would allow some form of the legislation to pass.

“Ultimately, the two of them could come to an agreement that can become law,” Scalise said. “And yet the president refuses to even meet. So the president can’t say he’s serious about Ukraine or the border when he refuses to meet with the speaker so they can come to an agreement on this issue.”

The White House appeared to be dismissive of the idea when Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre fielded a question on Wednesday about the speaker’s office, saying the president had declined multiple requests for a one-on-one meeting.

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“What is there to negotiate? Really, truly, what is the one-on-one negotiation about when he’s been presented with exactly what he asked for?” Jean-Pierre said. “So, he’s negotiating with himself. He’s killing bills on his own.”

On Monday, Biden rejected a reporter’s question asking if he would go as far as to say deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny‘s “blood is on the hands” of Republicans in the House.

“I wouldn’t use that term, but they’re making a big mistake not responding,” Biden replied.