President Biden spoke to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday before a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Biden said he hoped to discuss several issues with the leaders, including supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion. Biden said the “need is urgent” and the consequence of U.S. inaction is “dire.”

Video Transcript

JOE BIDEN: I want to thank the leaders for being here today. We got a lot of work to do. We got to figure out how we’re gonna keep funding the government, which is an important problem, an important solution we need to find. And I think we can do that.

And Ukraine, I think the need is urgent. I hope we get to speak to that a little bit. And I think the consequences of inaction every day in Ukraine are dire. I’ve been speaking to some of our G7 partners. And you just got back, Chuck.

CHUCK SCHUMER: I did. I did.

JOE BIDEN: They’re very concerned. And also we need to– we need to– in terms of supplemental, we need to deal with the Israeli portion. But that also contains a significant portion having to do with humanitarian assistance into the Palestinian areas, which I think is important.

And we have to replenish the air defenses for Israel. And we have to work on making sure they don’t face the threat from– they can face the threat from the– from what’s going on in the Middle East, not just from Hamas but from Iran.

And so– and government funding. I’m sure you guys had all that– all that taken care of. But all kidding aside, I think that it’s Congress’s responsibility to fund the government. We’ve got to get about doing it.

A shutdown would damage the economy significantly. And I think we all agree to that. And we need a bipartisan solution.

So I want to hear from the group. And I want to hear from all of you here. So thank you all for coming. That’s what we’re gonna be talking about.