Mr Biden made the remarks after the US Congress passed a temporary budget bill on Saturday night to extend funding to help the federal government avoid a shutdown, at least for the next month.
US President Joe Biden. Photo: Reuters
The bill runs through November 17, but does not include aid for Ukraine. The United States is Ukraine’s main backer in its conflict with Russia, and Biden is working to maintain that support.
President Biden said Republicans were committed to resolving the Ukraine aid budget through a separate vote. “Under no circumstances can we allow U.S. support to Ukraine to be interrupted,” he told reporters at the White House.
Asked if he could trust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to make the deals, Biden said: "We just made a deal on Ukraine, so we'll see."
The US president assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting in Washington last month of strong US support for Kiev, despite objections from some Republican lawmakers.
Mr Biden also urged Republicans to move quickly to avoid another crisis in November. “The brinkmanship has to end,” he said. “And there shouldn’t be another… crisis.”
President Biden declined to comment on whether Democrats would support Mr McCarthy to remain speaker of the House, given the Republicans’ opposition to Mr McCarthy following the recent spending vote. The president said he would leave that decision to House Democratic leaders.
Bui Huy (according to Bloomberg, Reuters)
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