Congressional leaders said they were cautiously optimistic about reaching a deal on stricter border security that would unlock funding for Ukraine, following a White House meeting with President Joe Biden, Bloomberg reports.
The newspaper adds that while lawmakers struck a positive tone, there were few signs of concrete progress Wednesday toward breaking a months-long stalemate that has delayed funding for Kyiv, as well as Israel.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said the session with Biden and congressional leaders was “productive” but reiterated Republican demands for a crackdown at the US-Mexico border in exchange for supporting the president’s $110 billion emergency spending request.
“We must insist that the border be the top priority,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting.
Johnson said later on Fox News he had been consulting “pretty frequently” with Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, who opposes an emerging border compromise in the Senate.
He said Republicans would continue to push for limits on asylum claims and the president’s power to shield certain migrants from deportation. “We’re cautiously optimistic,” the speaker said.