Good morning. I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to The Daily Punch, brought to you by Punch Bowl News.

It is Tuesday, February 20th, 2024. Let's get into the mix. Here are your Washington headlines of the day.

Number one, Johnson and Biden wrestle over a meeting.

Number two, odds and ends from Munich and number three. New Dems get involved in primaries.

Let's get into it. The president of the United States, Joe Biden, said he would be happy to meet

with Johnson if Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, has anything to say. Johnson might have something to say, but it might not be what Biden wants to hear. The president has hammered. Johnson and House Republicans for refusing to take up the Senate-passed foreign aid package that includes tens of billions of dollars for Ukraine, also includes money for Israel and Taiwan. The death Friday of Russian opposition leader Alexi Navalny in an Arctic prison

and recent Ukrainian basically reverses on the battlefield have provoked further recriminations

from top administration officials and Hill Democrats. Biden said this, look, the way they're

walking away from the threat of Russia, the way they're

walking away from NATO, they're walking away from meeting our obligations. It's just shocking,

Biden said. I mean, they're wild. I've never seen anything like this. That they are. I've never

seen anything like this either. But let's talk a little bit about what's going on here. Now,

the fact that that, that let's just talk about the power dynamics here, the fact that

Johnson has been asking for a meeting with Biden and has not gotten one is, is interesting,

to say the least.

Why is it interesting?

Because he's the Speaker of the House. But I'm not sure the two would really have something to talk about.

Mike Johnson, according to the White House, is looking for a parachute, is looking for an off-ramp on Ukraine aid. I don't think it's that simple, to be honest with you. Johnson has, for a long time, tried to pair Ukraine aid with, with border security.

Once the Senate did that, Johnson killed the bill.

And I understand the dynamics he's dealing with, but it doesn't lead to a productive work

environment when Johnson just completely came out and dumped all over the Senate bill

while it was under basically being worked on in the Senate.

...