US House reconvenes with a significant to-do list and a looming shutdown

The House speaker, Mike Johnson, in Washington DC on 27 February. Leaders of both parties expressed optimism that they would be able to avoid a government shutdown this week. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

With a government shutdown looming and Ukraine desperate for Washington’s aid, the House returns to session on Wednesday to face a towering to-do list and strong objections from the Republican right flank.

Congressional leaders worked frantically to reach a deal ahead of the 1 March deadline to avert a partial government shutdown that could shutter vital services in several key departments, temporarily endangering access to federal food assistance programs and federal housing vouchers.

On Tuesday, Joe Biden summoned to the White House the the top four congressional leaders – the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson; the Democratic Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer; the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell; and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries – to discuss a funding deal and the president’s push for a wartime aid package that would allocate $60bn to Ukraine’s fight against Russia. It would also provide $14.1bn in security assistance for Israel and $9.2bn in humanitarian assistance for civilians in war zones.

Leaders of both parties expressed optimism that they would be able to avoid a government shutdown this week, although Democrats suggested another short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), would be necessary to continue their work.

“The speaker said unequivocally he wants to avoid a government shutdown,” Schumer told reporters after the meeting. “We made it clear that that means not letting any of the government appropriations bills lapse, which means you need some CRs to get that done. But we’re making good progress, and we’re hopeful we can get this done really quickly.”

On the question of providing more aid to Ukraine, Schumer described the discussion as “one of the most intense I’ve ever encountered in my many meetings in the Oval Office”. Hard-right Republicans have insisted they will not take action on Ukraine without linking the aid to stricter border policies, and Johnson reiterated that position on Tuesday.

“The first priority of the country is our border and making sure it’s secure. I believe the president can take executive authority right now, today, to change that. And I told him that again today in person,” Johnson told reporters. “It’s time for action. It is a catastrophe, and it must stop, and we will get the government funded, and we’ll keep working on that.”

The current standoff comes after hard-right Republicans, at the encouragement of Donald Trump, blocked a bipartisan border and national security package that would have addressed Ukraine and overhauled the asylum system for migrants. After killing that deal, Republicans have once again demanded stricter border measures in exchange for approving more foreign aid.

The border security demands have infuriated lawmakers who worked for months to broker a bipartisan immigration plan only to see it torpedoed by Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. Schumer warned Johnson that there was not a moment to waste on Ukraine, urging him to prioritize the nation’s security over his political party.

“We said to the speaker: get it done,” Schumer said on Tuesday. “And if you don’t do the right thing, whatever the immediate politics are, you will regret it.”

The House’s return on Wednesday follows a two-week recess that Biden denounced as “bizarre” given the urgency of approving the $95bn national security package. That bill passed the Senate in a bipartisan vote of 70 to 29, with 22 Republicans supporting the proposal, but Johnson has been reluctant to bring it to the floor for a vote. At a recent security conference in Munich, Zelenskiy referenced the delay in passing the bill, warning “dictators don’t go on vacation”.

“This is one of those instances where one person can bend the course of history,” White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “Speaker Johnson, if he put this bill on the floor, would produce a strong, bipartisan majority vote in favor of the aid to Ukraine.”

While the House was away, Russia captured the strategically important eastern frontline city of Avdiivka, a significant battlefield victory that arrived just days before Ukraine marked the second anniversary of the unprovoked Russian invasion. Meanwhile, the death of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison sent shockwaves across western capitals earlier this month, with Biden and other world leaders laying the blame squarely on Russia’s autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine’s president, ​​Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has been pleading with the US to replenish its weapons stock, with the country outnumbered and outgunned as the war enters a third year. In an interview with NBC this week, Zelenskiy said without American assistance “we will lose a lot of people. We will lose territories.”

Returning from a congressional visit to Ukraine last week, Schumer implored Johnson to override the objections of Trump’s far-right allies on Capitol Hill and allow a vote on the bill.

In a letter to colleagues, Schumer said Zelenskiy told him that without additional defense assistance, “Putin will win.”

“We were told in no uncertain terms that if more weaponry had been available in Avdiivka, the outcome would have been different,” he added, appealing to “pragmatic Republicans” for help prodding Johnson “to meet the moment”.

“I know our caucus recognizes that if we abandon Ukraine, the political, diplomatic, economic and military consequences will reverberate for years, not only for Ukraine and Europe, but for the American people,” he said. “The death of Russia’s brave opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, shows the danger and menace of Putin’s autocracy.”

In a statement, Johnson dismissed Schumer’s letter and said now was “not a time for petty politics”.

“House Republicans will continue to work in good faith and hope to reach an outcome as soon as possible,” he said, “even as we continue to insist that our own border security must be addressed immediately.”

Congressional leaders are simultaneously searching for a deal that would keep the federal government operating through the end of the fiscal year. But conservative policy demands on issues ranging from immigration to abortion have stalled talks.

Without a deal, appropriators may be forced to consider another temporary extension to avert a shutdown that could rattle the still-recovering economy. As of now, funding for roughly one-fifth of the federal government is set to expire on Friday. The rest of federal funding, which includes money for the Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon and the state department, will run out a week later on 8 March.

“We are making real progress on the appropriations bills that are scheduled to lapse on 1 March, and I’m cautiously optimistic that we can do what is necessary within the next day or so to close down these bills and avoid a government shutdown,” Jeffries told reporters after the meeting at the White House on Tuesday.

“At the same time, it may be important to come to an agreement that’s bipartisan and anchored in common sense to extend the pending expiration of the eight additional bills that are scheduled to lapse on 8 March, so that good-faith, tough negotiations can continue in the absence of a government shutdown.”