President Biden invites Volodymyr Zelenskyy to White House as Congress fights over Ukraine aid
Francesca ChambersWASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House on Tuesday to help jumpstart negotiations with Congress on providing additional aid to the war-ravaged country.
A spokesman for Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said the Republican lawmaker would also meet with Zelenskyy during his visit. Zelenskyy will visit Washington on Tuesday.
Lawmakers are scheduled to leave town at the end of the week until early January, and they have not been able to come to an agreement on funding for Ukraine. They also haven't reached a deal on the president's other national security priorities, leading the White House to warn that it would run out of money to help Ukraine's military combat Russia's invasion by the end of the year.
Zelenskyy visited Washington and met with Biden and lawmakers from both parties at the end of September. He ended the trip under the impression that Congress would pass legislation authorizing more funds after speaking with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. But shortly after, McCarthy was ousted.
Biden has since revised his request to include even more money for Ukraine's military and to replace U.S. military equipment that has been provided to the country. The Biden administration is seeking more than $60 billion for the effort as part of a larger national security package of roughly $106 billion, which also includes money for Israel and the U.S. border with Mexico.
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Zelenskyy has made several trips to Washington in the last year to press for more aid, including a visit last December in which he delivered an address to a joint session of Congress.
Congress has been at a stalemate over Biden's funding request. Lawmakers have disagreed on U.S. border security and opposition by some Republicans, mainly in the House, to continuing to fund Ukraine's military operations.