Biden to meet with congressional leaders ahead of government shutdown deadline

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will meet with the top four congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday as they scramble to send military aid to foreign allies and avert a partial government shutdown at the end of the week.

Biden last met with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., more than a month ago, on Jan. 17, but in the weeks since then, Johnson and congressional Democrats have failed to strike a deal on critical military aid for Ukraine or hammer out the details of the budget agreement they reached last month to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. Johnson will be on hand Tuesday, along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

If they cannot figure out a path forward on funding, the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Transportation, Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, as well as other programs, will all shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday. Funding for the rest of the government, including the Defense, State, Homeland Security and Justice departments, expires a week later, at 12:01 a.m. March 9.

Even a partial shutdown beginning this weekend would result in furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal workers and halt pay for those at affected departments who still have to report to work. It would also jeopardize food aid programs for women and children, halt loans to American farmers and freeze hiring and training of air traffic controllers at a time when the country faces a critical shortage. Under a recently passed law, federal workers would receive back pay after a shutdown ends.

And at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a shutdown would close VA benefit regional