(NewsInsights.org) – White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed during a Wednesday, February 14, press conference that President Joe Biden and the White House had refused requests in previous weeks from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for one-on-one meetings to discuss national security with a specific emphasis on border policy. Jean-Pierre rhetorically asked the press corps, “What is there to negotiate?”
Jean-Pierre started the presser by announcing that the president and first lady had called Tom Suozzi (D-NY) to congratulate him on winning the special election in New York for the congressional seat vacated by disgraced former Representative George Santos (R-NY). The house ousted Santos on December 1. She greatly attributed Suozzi’s win to voter repudiation of the House’s rejection of a bipartisan Senate security deal that included the toughest border policies in decades.
The White House spokesperson reminded reporters that President Joe Biden had hosted the top four Congressional leaders at the White House on January 17 to discuss critical aid for Ukraine. In that meeting, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) insisted on “substantive policy change” to border security before he would even consider bringing a security package including aid for Ukraine, Israel, or Taiwan to the floor for consideration.
Senators worked across the aisle and with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to draft and pass a legislative package meeting Johnson’s stated requirements. Yet, Jean-Pierre alleged that Johnson declared the proposal “dead on arrival” in the House because “the deal would be effective and undermine” political points on which former President Donald Trump was campaigning.
When Johnson objected to including border security in the actual National Security Supplemental package, insisting the administration already had the tools to deal with the issue, the Senate revised the measure, passed it again, and sent it to the House, where Johnson refused to bring it to a vote again.
Johnson told reporters on Wednesday, “A month I’ve been asking to sit down with the president” without success, according to The Hill. He said critical issues mandated the meeting between the two, and he would continue insisting on a one-on-one. Additionally, he stated, “And if the Speaker of the House can’t meet with the president of the United States, that’s a problem.”
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