House Speaker Wants to Discuss Aid to Ukraine with Biden – Bloomberg.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is considering the possibility of holding direct talks with U.S. President Joe Biden on aid to Ukraine. Bloomberg reports this.

The publication notes that talks about a bipartisan compromise are dragging on in the Senate.

A bipartisan group of senators has been working for weeks on possible changes to U.S. immigration policy, which Republicans demanded as a condition for approving Biden's request for $61 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine.

Lead Democratic negotiator in the Senate Chris Murphy previously stated that this group has not yet reached an agreement.

Johnson insists that Biden approve a range of conservative immigration changes, including new restrictions on the president's ability to exempt migrants from deportation and changes to the criteria for granting asylum.

Negotiations in the Senate have focused on more limited concessions than Republicans in the House of Representatives are seeking, and therefore any Senate deal may not pass through the House.

White House budget director Shalanda Young has reacted coolly to the idea of direct talks with Johnson.

Young said that the Republican leader in the House needs to be more actively involved in negotiations in the Senate.

«We need to come to an agreement, not start from scratch and conduct new negotiations», – she said.

Bloomberg writes that for now, Johnson still hopes the Senate will find an acceptable solution. Johnson is also considering the possibility of holding direct talks with the White House.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week that his talks with Johnson on how to avoid a government shutdown on January 20 are going well but noted that border negotiations are at a stalemate.

«In the government shutdown talks, both sides disagree on the overall level of federal spending for the current fiscal year. An agreement on overall spending is necessary to draft and pass the funding law» – writes the publication.

Democrats have tried to use $70 billion in budget changes to increase domestic spending.

Johnson, who is involved in the negotiations, aims to make deeper cuts to unspent Covid-19 funds and accelerate the reduction of IRS funding, which Congress previously approved in the inflation reduction law signed by Biden.

Let us recall that the United States justified the reduction in military aid to Ukraine in 2024 by saying that they want to help our country develop its own military-industrial base.

As reported, the United States no longer has funds to provide Ukraine with new military aid packages.

Total U.S. National Debt Exceeds $34 Trillion

By the way, the total U.S. national debt has exceeded $34 trillion for the first Time. This follows from statistical data from the country's Treasury. The total outstanding national debt increased from $33.911 trillion on December 28 to $34.001 trillion. Reuters notes that the increase in debt since September has occurred amid declining tax revenues and rising federal expenditures. Next week, a congressional meeting is scheduled to address national spending.