by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch | The Hill
President Biden this afternoon will urge congressional leaders during an Oval Office meeting to back his languishing request to send Ukraine and Israel more aid and tighten immigration and border security, as proposed by Republicans.
In an election year, and while former President Trump is outpacing the incumbent in recent polls, it’s unlikely that an accord will suddenly materialize that would satisfy politically skewed parties. Months of warnings about Russia’s threats, Ukraine’s defense needs, Israel’s predicament in Gaza and the administration’s insistence that the border is not a crisis have gone nowhere.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has his hands full bucking his conservative colleagues. He’s eager to avert a partial government shutdown later this week by linking arms with House Democrats to gain a temporary funding extension into March. At the moment, Johnson is defying the hard-line tactics of the Freedom Caucus, perhaps at his own peril as Speaker.
The Hill: The Senate on Tuesday took the first step to advance a measure to prevent a partial shutdown by temporarily pushing the funding debate into March. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) would like to pass it with bipartisan backing on Thursday.
Johnson says he supports additional U.S. military and economic assistance to Kyiv on condition that Democrats back U.S. border security changes, reports The Hill’s Al Weaver. But Democrats have opposed such leveraging. Johnson suggests Ukraine funding is dead on arrival in the House without the border adjustments, a potential congressional blockade. It’s a serious blow to Ukraine and its defense of its territory against Russia.
In Switzerland on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised strong and “enduring” U.S. support for Ukraine while he joins an annual world forum in Davos attended by President Volodymyr Zelensky. As the VIP guest from Kyiv worked to rally support among government and private-sector power brokers gathered in the Swiss Alps, the secretary and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan advocated for “global assistance to support Ukraine as it fights for its freedom and sovereignty,” even as Congress sends ominous messages abroad that undermine the translations of “strong and enduring.”
“[If] anyone thinks this is only about us, this is only about Ukraine, they are fundamentally mistaken,” Zelensky said Tuesday. “Possible directions and even timeline of a new Russian aggression beyond Ukraine become more and more obvious.”
French President Emmanuel Macron during a news conference in Paris Tuesday added that he plans to travel next month to Ukraine to finalize a security agreement with the government in Kyiv. France will deliver more long-range cruise missiles as well as bombs to Ukraine, Macron said, which fortifies a recent pledge from the U.K. for more than $3 billion in help for Ukraine, a record.
We cannot let Russia win,” Macron added.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
- Top tax writers in Congress announced a deal Tuesday that would beef up the child tax credit and reinstate business deductions that ended to offset the reduction of the corporate tax rate in the GOP-backed 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Here’s what’s in the deal.
- Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, 90, the oldest senator, was hospitalized in Washington on Tuesday to receive IV treatment for an infection.
- Democratic Senate rebels, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on Tuesday sent Biden a stern message on Gaza as part of a resolution that would have potentially frozen military aid to Israel. The Senate voted to table it.
