President Joe Biden, speaking at the White House on Sunday some 12 hours after signing stopgap legislation to avert a federal government shutdown, called on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and fellow Republicans to maintain the U.S.’s commitment to assist Ukraine in its ongoing defense against the Russian invasion that began in February 2022. McCarthy, the president said, has committed to bring a Ukraine assistance bill to the House floor, after McCarthy, who has to varying degrees publicly expressed support for the Ukraine cause, removed Ukraine funds from the 45-day continuing resolution passed Saturday, with Democratic backing, to assuage his own intraparty detractors. “Let’s be clear,” said Biden. “I hope my friends on the other side [of the aisle] keep their word about support for Ukraine. They said they’re going to support Ukraine in a separate vote.” Biden called the government-shutdown near-miss “a manufactured crisis” brought about when Republicans walked away from the compromises reached in May, when McCarthy and Biden came together to resolve a debt-ceiling impasse. “I’m sick and tired of the brinksmanship.”
