As Congress comes back into session, an unnamed White House official has circulated to the AP that President Joe Biden will meet with the four congressional leaders on Feb. 26, to push them on the $95 billion military escalation for Ukraine (along with Israel and Taiwan), but also on the looming government shutdown, scheduled for March 1. The four are House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Evidently, the meeting will look for more cuts to pass a budget while it tries to throw another $95 billion into foreign interventions.
The White House narrative is to simply dismiss the massive skepticism in the country over the necessity to defeat Russia, using Ukraine as a proxy. Yesterday on ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan kept the heat on Johnson: “This is one of those instances where one person can bend the course of history. Speaker Johnson, if he put this bill on the floor, would produce a strong, bipartisan majority vote in favor of the aid to Ukraine.” Sullivan said that in his personal conversations with the Speaker, he “has indicated that he would like to get the funding for Ukraine.”
