By JONATHAN LEMIRE
11/03/2023 12:26 PM EDT
White House aides are balancing demands for the president’s time amid a war in the Middle East that has erupted not far from Dubai. One official said the war is among the factors in deciding the president’s upcoming schedule, but noted that Biden traveled to Tel Aviv last month after the Hamas terror attacks on Israel precipitated the conflict. He also made a secret trip to Ukraine earlier this year amid Russia’s invasion.
There also could be a showdown later this year over government spending that could require Biden to stay in Washington, one of the officials said. The current temporary government spending bill is set to expire Nov. 17 and it is not clear how the new Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, will handle negotiations that could force a government shutdown.
The optics of holding the climate conference in the UAE, a major oil producer, has always been awkward, but dozens of countries plan to use the meeting to push for the world’s first deal to phase out CO2-emitting coal, oil and gas.
Biden attended the first two COP conferences of his term, in 2021 in Scotland and 2022 in Egypt. A year ago, he went to Sharm El-Sheikh on the heels of signing into law the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed sweeping climate change reforms. He has fewer new tangible green accomplishments this year but could still highlight climate change — an issue that polling suggests is important to many young voters and liberal Democrats — less than a year out from standing for reelection.
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