- “What are these guys doing?” he said of the congressional deadlock that has left aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in limbo
- “They’ll be running away in two weeks!” he said, referring to the congressional recess that falls on President’s Day. ‘What are they thinking? My God! This is bizarre!’
President Biden brutally mocked the House for skipping town for two weeks without doing anything to advance a foreign aid package.
“They’ll be running away in two weeks!” he said, referring to the congressional recess that falls on President’s Day. ‘What are they thinking? My God! This is bizarre!’
“What are these guys doing?” he said Friday about the impasse in Congress that has left aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in limbo.
The Senate voted 70-29 to approve the $95 billion aid deal, which Speaker Mike Johnson said is “dead on arrival” in the House of Representatives.
Congress has been deadlocked for months over further aid to US allies – as the right flank of the House of Representatives has even begun threatening a motion to remove Mike Johnson from the presidency if he passes further aid to Ukraine in the House of Representatives would grant.
President Biden brutally mocked the House for skipping town for two weeks without doing anything to advance a foreign aid package
And after a vote on a standalone Israeli aid bill failed last week, Johnson declined to bring it up again this week.
He also pulled a vote on a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, amid the fight over whether intelligence officials should get arrest warrants when U.S. citizens become entangled in their surveillance of foreign threats.
When Congress returns from recess, there will be only three days to avoid another possible government shutdown.
The House of Representatives has already passed three continuing resolutions, bills that would fund the government at the 2023 level set under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to meet the deadline and give itself more time to enact a longer-term spending plan to work.
Congress has been deadlocked for months over further aid to US allies – as the right flank of the House of Representatives has even begun threatening a motion to remove Mike Johnson from the presidency if he passes further aid to Ukraine in the House of Representatives would grant
Even conservatives who ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy for failing to get 12 separate spending bills to fund the government into law on time in the 2024 fiscal year are now conceding that another emergency funding deal will likely be needed.
The House returns on February 28 and funding for four government agencies expires on March 1 and funding for the other eight expires on March 8.
Biden himself spent about 142 full or partial days on vacation in 2023, or nearly 40% of the year, according to a Republican National Committee tracker.
Biden is tracked to have spent 424 days away from the White House from January 2021 to January 2024 — more than President Donald Trump’s 381 over a full term and President Barack Obama’s 328 over two terms, and roughly comparable to President Donald Trump’s 1,020 vacation days. President George W. Bush. more than two terms.