Biden will welcome Zelenskyy to the White House on Thursday as the embattled leader seeks to shore up additional support for his war-torn country.
The measure has bipartisan support in the Senate. But it has been held up in the House of Representatives, where some members, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., have said they will not support any additional aid.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. is in a difficult position on the issue of Ukraine due to a slim GOP majority in the House, which gives individual Republican lawmakers leverage to pressure him to accede to their demands. Conservatives balked at McCarthy's proposal last week to pair Ukraine aid with additional border funding.President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky walks with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer during his visit to the U.S. Capitol Building on September 21, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Zelenskyy stopped at the Capitol Thursday morning before his Oval Office meeting with Biden to make his pitch directly to lawmakers.McCarthy agreed to meet with the Ukrainian president privately but did not offer a forum for him to appeal to the full House of Representatives as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. did in the upper chamber.