Big Four has “intense” meeting at White House

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – President Biden hosted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) at the White House today. Vice President Kamala Harris also attended.

The topics discussed included Ukraine aid, the southern border and the looming government shutdown.

“The meeting on Ukraine was one of the most intense I’ve ever encountered in my many meetings in the Oval Office,” Schumer said after the meeting.

“It’s time to recognize how passivity, half measures and delay brought the West to this particular moment,” McConnell said on the Senate floor earlier in the day.

Speaker Johnson focused on the southern border when talking to reporters. “The first priority of the country is our border and making sure it’s secure,” he said.

The House, under Johnson’s leadership, is under pressure to pass the $95 billion national security package that bolsters aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. That measure cleared the Senate on a bipartisan 70-29 vote this month, but Johnson has resisted scheduling it for a vote in the House.

“We just need our House Republican colleagues not to play politics and engage in political stunts relative to the border,” Jeffries said, “but to sit down as was done in the Senate and enter into good faith discussions about fixing our broken immigration system.”

Both sides expressed optimism about avoiding a government shutdown but did not provide details.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.