With the annual defense authorization bill now sitting on President Joe Biden’s desk, the House on Thursday headed home for the holiday break. And yet, despite ticking off one crucial item on what has become a hefty to-do list, lawmakers in the lower chamber are leaving town with plenty still hanging over Congress’ heads.
Topping the list is Biden’s more than $100 billion supplemental request packed with security funding for the U.S.-Mexico border and foreign aid, including Ukraine as it fends off Russia's invasion, Israel as it battles Hamas and the Indo-Pacific as China exerts its influence in the region.
As for the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced on Thursday his chamber would return on Monday to continue talks on the supplemental funding request. The Democratic leader pledged the upper chamber will vote on a proposal “no matter what” next week.
“After we finish today, the Senate will return on Monday. That will give negotiators from the White House, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans time to work through the weekend in an effort to reach a framework agreement,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday, warning the actual text of the package would take time.
“Members need to be here next week, we have to get this done,” he added.
Negotiations in the Senate over changes to border policy — a condition Republicans have placed on getting their sign-off on any additional aid to Ukraine — have engulfed Washington this week. Not to mention, the White House and Capitol Hill got a visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself — coming at Biden’s invitation — to make the case for more U.S. assistance.
Despite somewhat upbeat signs from key players that talks on the notoriously-thorny topic of border policy are moving in the right direction, a breakthrough deal that could unlock billions in foreign assistance remains elusive.
“It’s been very frustrating and I’ve talked to our negotiators, I’ve talked to Republicans and Democrats and they seem very frustrated,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Ben Cardin, D-Md., told reporters in a briefing on Thursday morning. “Today, we’ve not been able to see the type of progress that is necessary to reach an agreement, but it might happen today or tomorrow.”
Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., have spent weeks leading talks on a potential border policy agreement. This week, the White House appeared to step up its direct involvement in negotiations — something Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., another key figure in border talks, said has “been really helpful.”
“The fact that the White House is fully engaged in the negotiations has definitely made a difference,” Sinema told CNN. “It's communicated to Senate Republicans that this is serious and that we’ve got a deal in the future.”
The former-Democratic-turned-Indendent senator added those involved in negotiations are now “beginning to talk in more detail about what some of the elements of a potential deal would look like.”
Making a personal plea for Congress to pass additional aid to Ukraine two weeks ago, Biden said he was willing to make “significant compromises” regarding the border — a point he reiterated at a joint press conference with Zelenskyy on Tuesday.
But the path forward is still far from smooth sailing.
For one there is a concern from some within the Democratic party that the Biden administration could give too much away in regards to the border in order to get the supplemental and aid to Ukraine across the finish line.
The White House is blaring the alarm that Congress needs to pass the package before the end of the year as it is running out of funds to support Ukraine.
But even if the Senate is able to reach a deal over the weekend and gets a package over the finish line next week, the House would have to return to sign-off too — a far from certain scenario.
“There is a lot of conversation about the House, so there is that concern,” Cardin told reporters on Thursday. “But at this moment, we think that if we get the right deal in the Senate, that can gel in the House.”
“The balance in the House is that you have to have policy that can keep Democrats supporting the package at a high enough number with the border security issues in there, as well as getting the Republican leadership to believe it’s adequate enough,” he added.
Earlier this week, Schumer said he spoke with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and asked him to keep the House in session “to give the supplemental a chance to come together.”
“If Republicans are serious about getting something done on the border, then why are so many of them in such a hurry to leave for the winter break?” Schumer said. “Has the border simply been an excuse to kill funding for Ukraine?”
But in an interview on The Hugh Hewitt Show Tuesday, Johnson indicated he doesn’t want to keep lawmakers in town if border negotiations are far off.
“I’m not going to have everybody sit here through Christmas twiddling their thumbs. They’ve not sent me anything,” Johnson said, referring to the Senate.
Meanwhile, while previously staving off the typical last-minute rush to keep the government funded ahead of Christmas by passing two short-term fixes extending some funding into January and the rest into February, Congress still has the full-year budget on its plate.
The House and Senate still appear to be at odds over a topline figure for the overall budget — significantly impacting the chances of working out the finer details of individual appropriations bills by the two deadlines in January and February.