President Joe Biden criticized House Republicans for breaking for the rest of December while funding for Ukraine, Israel and the border crisis remain in limbo. Biden, however, has also previously faced backlash for taking a vacation during several national emergencies.
After the terrorist organization Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, Biden unveiled a $106 billion supplemental spending package, which would allocate more than $61 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, $14.3 billion aid for Israel and $1.4 billion for state and local governments struggling to handle an influx of migrants. The chances of the package passing continue to dwindle as House Republicans demand border policy changes in exchange for aid sent to Ukraine and Israel. (RELATED: President Invites Zelenskyy To White House As Biden Administration Makes Push For More Ukraine Aid)
“House Republicans want to leave town without passing critical funding for Israel and Ukraine. On our border, you can’t say there’s a crisis, then say you want to leave for three weeks,” Biden said on Twitter.
While Biden criticizes House Republicans for going on recess Thursday, the president has taken several vacations throughout his presidency during dire times that have been met with backlash.
House Republicans want to leave town without passing critical funding for Israel and Ukraine.
On our border, you can’t say there’s a crisis, then say you want to leave for three weeks.
The ball is in their court.
I’m doing my job. Republicans on the Hill should do theirs.
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 13, 2023
In August, the president took a weeklong vacation to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while the death toll from the Maui wildfires continued to rise, the Washington Examiner reported. While the president came under fire for taking a vacation during the crisis, the White House defended Biden’s decision, adding he and the first lady had been “very clear about offering their condolences.” (RELATED: Here’s Everything Joe Biden Missed While Vacationing For 19 Days In August)
Biden eventually took a trip to Maui, spending less than a day in the state before returning to the vacation he was on in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
Then in December 2022, Biden took a trip to St. Croix while northern parts of the U.S. experienced extreme winter weather that left at least 65 people dead and caused about 10,000 flights to be cancelled, the New York Post reported. In one instance, at least 28 people died after a snowstorm struck upstate New York, according to another New York Post article.
U.S. President Joe Biden walks to speak to reporters as he and first lady Jill Biden leave the White House and walk to Marine One on the South Lawn on December 27, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Bidens are spending the New Years holiday in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Members of the House Foreign Relations Committee, including Republican Tennessee Rep. Mark Green and Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa, criticized the president for heading to Delaware just days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Independent reported.
“He’s gone back to Delaware — there is no weakness in the White House, he abandoned the capital!” Issa told the Independent, discussing how Biden was conducting business involving the war from his vacation home.
“One hundred per cent,” Green responded.
Biden also took a vacation to Camp David in August 2021 after announcing his administration would begin to withdraw from Afghanistan and evacuate Americans trapped in the country, The Washington Post reported. The deadly situation in Afghanistan began to unfold while the president took his trip, and Biden returned to the White House the following Monday to address the nation amid the crisis, the outlet reported.
“The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated,” Biden said in his address. “So what’s happened? Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight.”