WASHINGTON – President Biden said Wednesday he is ready to change course on U.S.-Mexico border policy after House Speaker Mike Johnson confronted him in a White House meeting and accused him of of unleashing a “catastrophe.”
“[Biden] He said ‘I’m ready to make significant changes to the border.’ He said he was broken. He knows it needs to be fixed,” said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), a participant in the meeting. told reporters after.
A source briefed on the conversations between Biden and 18 members of the House and Senate said McCaul’s account was accurate, but another source said they understood the president was vague.
Although Republicans heard in Biden’s words an awakening that could result in a major political shift, a White House official told The Post that his comments were consistent with previous presidential comments and shared examples of Biden saying there was a “system broken border.”
However, the context of Biden’s comments to members of Congress seeking a deal was different from the White House’s typical citations of Biden’s three-year-old proposals to boost legal immigration and grant amnesty to those already found in the United States as ways to address a “break,” which critics say would worsen the border surge.
The 81-year-old commander in chief made the remarks amid record levels of illegal crossings that critics attribute to his policies.
Johnson (R-La.) told reporters after the meeting that he told Biden to his face that his actions had caused a humanitarian and national security “catastrophe” and that changes to border policy are needed before the House Republicans consider approving $61.4 billion in new military aid. to Ukraine.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he will urge President Biden to secure the U.S. border during White House talks on Wednesday before considering $61.4 billion in aid to Ukraine. fake images
“I told the president what I have been saying for many months, and that is that we must make changes at the border, substantial policy changes,” Johnson said.
“We documented 64 cases in which the president took executive action or his agencies took action to create the current catastrophe we have at the border,” the speaker added. “It is a humanitarian and national security catastrophe and I explained it to the president in the meeting.
“We understand that there are concerns about Ukraine’s security and sovereignty, but the American people have those same concerns about our own internal sovereignty and security.”
Johnson said he wants Biden to take steps that include restoring former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers and ending the practice of quickly releasing to the United States most people who cross the border illegally. border.
“Before we even talk about Ukraine, I’m going to tell the president what I’m telling all of you and we’ve told the American people: border, border, border,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. AFP via Getty Images
Both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Johnson told reporters there was a general consensus on the issues; The Democratic leader said that upon returning to Capitol Hill there was a “remarkable consensus” that both issues needed to be addressed through supplemental funding. bill.
“There was great agreement at the table that we need to take care of Ukraine and we need to take care of the border,” Schumer told reporters at the White House entrance immediately after the meeting with Biden.
“There was tremendous attention on Ukraine and it was understood that if we did not come to the aid of Ukraine, the consequences for the United States around the world would be nothing short of devastating and, within a year, we would be on the defensive doing all kinds of measures. “Things we wouldn’t like to do.”
Schumer added that “the president himself has said over and over again that he is willing to move forward.” [the] edge.”
Johnson and other congressional leaders will meet in the Oval Office to discuss the president’s $106 billion national security package for Ukraine, Israel and U.S. border security. AP
Bipartisan talks on supplemental funding led by senators, including Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), are moving forward, Schumer continued.
“I’m more optimistic than ever that we will reach an agreement; now I think the chances are a little better than half,” he said.
House Republicans are increasingly skeptical of Biden’s request for new aid to Ukraine, as polls show significant public resistance to new aid on top of the $113 billion already allocated to counter the stalemate. invasion of the Kremlin in February 2022.
Johnson has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of ignoring his questions about assistance to Ukraine, including on oversight and ending the nearly two-year war between kyiv and Moscow.
“What is the endgame and strategy in Ukraine? How are we going to account for the funds?” the speaker told reporters at a morning news conference. “We need to know that Ukraine would not be another Afghanistan.”
In a speech on the Senate floor, McConnell criticized Biden for the “urgent crisis” at the southern border and said “negotiators are moving toward the most significant border improvements in nearly 30 years.” fake images
Briefing reporters after meeting with Biden, Johnson said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had stressed to him during a meeting in December that specific requests for military equipment are the top priority.
“He said the necessary ingredient is the proper weapons systems that they need,” Johnson said. “We need questions answered about strategy, about the end game, and about responsibility for the precious treasure of the American people.”
In October, Biden requested $106 billion in supplemental funding outside the normal budget process to fund military support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as increased U.S. border security amid a record increase in illegal crossings.
The proposal includes $61.4 billion for Kiev’s war effort, $14.3 billion for military assistance to Israel in its fight against Hamas terrorists in Gaza and $13.6 billion to improve border surveillance.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby rejected GOP criticism of Ukraine funding ahead of Wednesday’s meeting.
“This idea of a blank check is not true,” Kirby said, referring to House Republicans’ characterization of the U.S. aid package.
He added that the discussion will “bring members of Congress up to speed on what we’re seeing right now on the battlefield.”
Schumer last November criticized a companion version of the legislation introduced by Republicans in the Senate for “conditioning Ukraine funding on far-right border policies that can never be approved by Congress.” fake images
In a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a strong supporter of aid to Ukraine, also criticized Biden for the “urgent crisis” in the southern border, saying that “negotiators are moving toward resolving the most significant border improvements in nearly 30 years.”
McConnell later told reporters that he expected the bill to be voted on next week, urging Republicans toward “a unique opportunity to accomplish something in divided government that wouldn’t exist under unified government.”
At the same time, Johnson is taking heat from his group’s right flank over a $1.66 trillion federal spending deal he reached earlier this month with Schumer, raising fears that hardliners would force a partial government shutdown starting Friday night.
Over the weekend, the House speaker rejected a leaked draft of the companion bill by a conservative immigration-focused group that showed a patchwork of solutions to the unprecedented immigration crisis at the southern border.
Those provisions included an increase in the issuance of green cards to 50,000 per year and a threshold for daily migrant expulsions of 5,000 if crossings exceed that number over a seven-day period.
“What is the endgame and strategy in Ukraine? How are we going to account for the funds?” Johnson asked Wednesday. “We need to know that Ukraine would not be another Afghanistan.” REUTERS
Lankford, the lead Republican negotiator on the bill, warned the press and his fellow lawmakers “not to believe everything you read on the Internet” following the leak.
“We don’t know exactly what the Senate proposed because we haven’t seen the text,” Johnson said Wednesday morning, adding that House Republicans will not consider “comprehensive immigration reform” with Democrats controlling both the White House and the Senate. .
“You can’t do that quickly,” he told reporters, stating that his conference remained steadfast in support of his border security bill from last year, known as HR 2.
Schumer criticized a Senate companion version of the legislation introduced by Republicans last November for “conditioning Ukraine funding on far-right border policies that can never be approved by Congress.”
“HR 2 had very important elements: restoring the Remain in Mexico policy; end catch and release; reform the asylum program, the failed parole process; rebuild the wall,” Johnson said in his press conference prior to his meeting with Biden. “You can’t choose from what’s on a menu and assume you’re going to solve the problem.”
“We spoke with the deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, who is a 33-year veteran of the agency,” he said of his recent trip with 64 House Republican lawmakers to Eagle Pass, Texas, the center of the migration crisis on the southern border. .
The deputy chief, he said, informed them that Border Patrol was “managing an open fire hydrant” with “more buckets,” rather than working “to reduce the flow.”
“No one should play politics with this. There is too much at stake. “Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 49,” Johnson added. “Cartels on the border are making billions of dollars smuggling people into the United States. …The human catastrophe cannot be underestimated.”
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