Schumer will not act to secure US border until GOP funds Ukraine war

Following a meeting with President Biden and fellow lawmakers on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revealed that while Republicans and Democrats are getting closer to reaching a deal on aid for Ukraine and the crisis at the southern border, there was still a lot of work to be done.

Schumer made it clear that his party would only support funding extra border security measures if Republicans agreed to pass it alongside more financial aid for President Zelensky's war-torn nation.

Schumer began by suggesting it was "essential" that the government continue funding the war in Ukraine, then noted that during the meeting, they "also talked about the border and how it's so important to deal with the border."

"The president himself said over and over again that he is willing to move forward on [the] border," he said. "We have to do both. There were a couple of people in the room who said 'let's do border first'. We said 'we have to do both together'. The only way we will do border and Ukraine, or even either of them, is bipartisan."

"You cannot, cannot do things with one party in a divided Congress," Schumer added, "and so anyone who says, any party who says 'do it my way or no way,' we're not gonna get anything done."

He claimed that there was "broad agreement in the room" for a desire to see a bipartisan solution and that the Senate was "making really good progress."

"I am more optimistic now that we can come to an agreement on border and Ukraine in one package, along with aid to Israel, along with humanitarian aid for the Palestinians in Gaza, and along with helping us Indochina," he said, putting the chances at "a little bit greater than half."

"We hope to fund the government this week," he concluded, "and then if we can come to an agreement ... move very quickly on the supplemental very shortly thereafter."