President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered urgent plea for Congress to pass aid to Ukraine in the Oval Office on Friday, as the fate of additional U.S. funding for the country remains in limbo.
“The failure of the United States Congress, if it occurs, not to support Ukraine, is close to criminal neglect,” Biden said during brief remarks ahead of his meeting with Scholz. “It is outrageous.”
The German chancellor, echoing Biden’s calls for U.S. lawmakers to act, did not mince words when laying out what he said was at stake for Ukraine without continued Western support.
“And hopefully, the Congress will – the House will follow you and make a decision on giving the necessary support,” Scholz told Biden who held up crossed fingers, “because without the support of the United States and without the support of the European states, Ukraine will have not a chance to defend its own country.”
“You and I helped put NATO together in a way it hadn't been a long time. So much is at stake, so they better step up,” the president told Scholz.
Biden’s request for billions of dollars to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia has been stalled for months on Capitol Hill as some Republicans, particularly in the House, push back on providing more assistance. Many of those Republicans argue the U.S. cannot afford to keep pouring money into the war and are calling on Europe to do more and for Biden to provide a detailed plan as to how it all comes to an end.
“Our House members are being somewhat reluctant and hopefully, it's more politics than real,” Biden said on Friday.
This week, Republicans blocked a $118 bipartisan border package that had been tied to Ukraine funding and aid for Israel. After that bill's failure, the Senate on Thursday voted to begin work on a narrower package that would include roughly $60 billion for Ukraine and $35 billion for Israel.
The Senate voted to advance it further on Friday, but whether such a package could garner enough GOP support for passage is still an open question. And even if it does pass the Senate, its future is uncertain in the Republican-controlled House.
Scholz said Friday before his meeting with Biden that he was hopeful the effort to separate Ukraine funding will end the funding impasse. The German leader hosted a bipartisan group of eight senators for dinner on Thursday evening after arriving in Washington.
“I don’t want to speculate about how long it will take, and whether a few more attempts will be needed, but it would be good if it happens very soon,” Scholz said.
During his brief remarks ahead of his sit-down with Biden, the German chancellor also commented on what he called a “ridiculous” interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, appearing to reference former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s sit-down with the leader.
“And when we saw this ridiculous interview Putin gave shortly, we understand that he is always telling a lot of lies about the history of this war, because it's so easy to understand why he's doing it,” Scholz said. “He wants to get the part of the territory of its neighbors.”
American officials have said that the inability to come to terms on a new aid package is endangering Ukraine’s efforts to repel the nearly two-year Russian invasion.
The Associated Press contributed to this report