Biden presses Republicans to end Ukraine ‘brinkmanship’

Washington — US President Joe Biden on Sunday pressed congressional Republicans to back a bill to provide more aid to Ukraine, saying he was "sick and tired" of the political brinkmanship that nearly led to a government shutdown.

Biden spoke after Congress passed a stopgap bill on Saturday that extended government funding for more than a month and avoided a shutdown that would have left most of the federal government's more than 4-million employees without a paycheck and cut a wide range of services.

The bill, which passed with broad Democratic and Republican support, sparked one hardline legislator to pledge to oust the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.

The bill, which lasts until November 17, did not include further military funding of up to $6bn for Kiev. The US has been a major supporter of Ukraine after Russia invaded it last year, and Biden has sought to rally the world, as well as his own country, to maintain that support. But hardline Republicans oppose further military aid, with some opposing Biden over the US’s support for the war. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Biden said Republicans had pledged to provide aid through a separate vote.

"We cannot under any circumstances allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted. I fully expect the speaker to keep his commitment to secure the passage and support needed to help Ukraine as they defend themselves against aggression and brutality," he told reporters at the White House.

Asked if he could trust McCarthy to honor deals, Biden said: "We just made one about Ukraine, so we’ll find out."

A White House official said Biden was referring to Republican promises of passing a separate bill on the issue.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech released on Sunday that nothing would weaken his country’s fight against Russia. Defence minister Rustem Umerov said separately he had received reassurances about further military assistance in a telephone call with US defense secretary Lloyd Austin.

Biden assured Ukrainian Zelensky during a visit to Washington last month that strong US support for his war to repel Russian invaders would be maintained despite opposition from some Republican legislators.

Biden urged Republicans to move ahead quickly to avoid another crisis in November.

"The brinkmanship has to end. And there shouldn’t be another ... crisis," he said. "I strongly urge my Republican friends in Congress not to wait. Don’t waste time as you did all summer. Pass a year-long budget agreement. Honor the deal we made a few months ago."

Biden declined to weigh in on whether Democrats should support McCarthy if he needed their votes to keep his job as House speaker. The president said he would leave that to Democratic leaders in Congress to decide.

McCarthy said on Sunday he expected to survive the threat to his speakership from a hardline critic within his party.

Republican Matt Gaetz told multiple US media outlets he would file a "motion to vacate", a call for a vote to remove McCarthy as speaker, testing McCarthy’s support in the House of Representatives, which his party controls by a narrow 221-212 margin.

"I’ll survive," McCarthy said on CBS. "This is personal with Gaetz." 

Reuters