Speaker McCarthy Says No Deal With President Biden on Ukraine Aid

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Monday he made no commitment to President Joe Biden or other Democrats to pass a separate Ukraine aid package.

"There is no side deal on Ukraine," the California Republican told reporters, noting he has not spoken to Biden in months.

And when asked specifically whether he is willing to have a vote on Ukraine aid, McCarthy said, "No."

"The one thing I have told everybody from the very beginning, the border, there are more Americans dying on the American border than there are in Ukraine," he said. "There's no Americans dying in Ukraine. Every single day There are Americans the equivalent of an airliner dying because of fentanyl that's coming across the border. We've got to fix the border.”

McCarthy did not rule out a potential deal that would tie Ukraine aid to border legislation, while making clear that the latter is his top priority.

"I have voted to arm Ukraine," he said. "America takes first priority here. And our border has got to be secured."

Biden alluded to an agreement with McCarthy on Ukraine when asked Sunday whether he trusts the speaker to cut future deals.

"We just made one about Ukraine," he said.  "So we'll find out."

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly declined to answer questions Monday about what Biden meant. She would not say whether there was a deal or go beyond what Biden said.

“There's been a bipartisan focus and agreement to continue the funding for Ukraine,” Jean-Pierre said. "That is what we're looking at. That is what we're speaking to, and that's what we're going to see."

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who has said he plans to force a vote on a motion to oust McCarthy as speaker this week, slammed McCarthy for allegedly cutting a "side deal" with Biden on Ukraine and keeping it secret from House Republicans. The final bill approved by both the House and Senate late Saturday that avoided a government shutdown omitted aid for Ukraine and U.S. border security.

"It is going to be difficult for my Republican friends to keep calling President Biden feeble while he continues to take Speaker McCarthy's lunch money in every negotiation," Gaetz said in floor speech Monday. "Just tell us: What was in the secret Ukraine side deal?"

McCarthy dismissed Gaetz's comments as a pattern of lies the Florida Republican has spread.

“There is not a secret plan,” McCarthy said. “He says a lot of things that aren’t true.”

The speaker said he has not spoken to Biden in months, but he has communicated with the White House.

McCarthy suggested the confusion over a potential Ukraine deal may have been about conversations over ensuring the temporary government funding bill included transfer authority language allowing executive agencies to move already approved money around different accounts and send it to Ukraine.

“I said if there’s any problem with transferring money around between the agencies and what they need to do their job — I don’t believe there is any problem — I’d fix that," he said. "That’s it.”

McCarthy said he has requested the White House provide a briefing to House members on Ukraine to answer the many questions they want answered before they would consider approving more aid.

"What is the strategy? What is the plan to win?" he said. "I've requested that from Jake Sullivan for a long time before, come and brief our members. They have a lot of questions, especially on the accountability provisions of what we want to see with the money."

Jean-Pierre cited McCarthy's comments on CBS's "Face The Nation" Sunday when asked how Biden could be sure that the U.S. will provide Ukraine funding, given McCarthy’s shaky future in his conference.

“Because the speaker has said himself, yesterday, that he wants to continue to support Ukraine, to make sure that they have the weapons that they need,” she said. “He has said it multiple times.”

McCarthy’s comments on Face The Nation Sunday were more nuanced. He said he supports making sure Ukraine has the weapons it needs but that his priority is the U.S. border. “So we've got to find a way that we can do this together,” he said.

Asked if the White House would consider linking the two spending priorities, Jean-Pierre said Americans are “fed up” with Republicans’ political games on national security.