With Republicans and Democrats all acknowledging Tuesday it’s unlikely Congress can reach a deal on Ukraine aid before the end of the year, GOP lawmakers have come up with a not-so-novel take on who’s to blame: President Joe Biden and Democrats.
No, Biden isn’t in Congress anymore. And Democrats would overwhelmingly approve more aid to Ukraine if they could, as the war there begins to take a turn in Vladimir Putin’s favor. But that isn’t stopping Republicans from running with the idea that it’s somehow Biden and the Democratic Party’s fault that Congress is at an impasse on Ukraine aid.
“Blood is on their hands,” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) said of Democrats. “Blood is on their hands in Ukraine. Blood will be on their hands here. And blood will be on their hands in Israel, and blood will be on their hands when the Chinese Communist Party thinks they can take Taiwan.”
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Asked if Republicans should share any of that blame, Wilson told The Daily Beast no. “Because we would vote for each one of these,” he said, referring to the four components of a proposed supplemental: Ukraine aid, Israel aid, money for Taiwan, and sweeping policy changes to border policies.
But Wilson’s claim might not be true. For one, a Ukraine aid proposal in late September did not garner a GOP majority in the House. Since then, the Republican insistence that there shouldn’t be more aid for Ukraine without border changes has calcified in Congress. At this point, Republicans are openly promising there won’t be more aid for Ukraine unless Democrats give in on sweeping immigration changes.
For another, Democrats would be more than happy to tackle these issues one-by-one or approve a package on them—so long as that package doesn’t include the massive immigration changes that they’re fighting to keep out of the bill.
Senate Democrats voted to advance funding for Ukraine, the border, Israel, and Taiwan in a package just last week. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans unanimously voted no, demanding those ambitious immigration policy changes.
But despite the fact that it’s Republicans in Congress holding up Ukraine aid, the GOP is pointing fingers at Democrats and the president for stalling aid anyway.
“It is the administration's fault if they don’t get this done,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said Tuesday.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA). “I really thought that the White House was going to engage in a meaningful way and my Democratic colleagues were. I’m surprised but more than being surprised, I’m really, really disappointed.”
Congress last approved funding for Ukraine a year ago, after a joint session in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Biden and both chambers of Congress for their support. A lot has changed in a year.
On Tuesday, Zelensky addressed the Senate to plead for additional aid. It was the second time in three months that he’s made such an entreaty. And still, Republicans were unmoved.
“I would say that I don’t think it changed any minds,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said after the meeting with Zelensky. “The issue is not Ukraine, and it’s not President Zelensky; it’s our own national security of our southern border.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a news conference with and U.S. President Joe Biden in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesBorder security has somehow become a sticking point on approving additional weapons for Ukraine. Republicans insist they have to get changes to the so-called humanitarian parole system—which allows the president to admit certain refugees into the country—and changes to the asylum process so that immigrants claiming asylum would get a ruling on their application sooner. The effect of that change would be expediting removal of asylum seekers—as most immigrants who try to claim asylum aren’t granted that status, but stay in the country for years as their applications make their way through the system.
The practical effect of these changes would be allowing fewer immigrants into the country through legal means, detaining more people, and deporting more people.
If that seems like a big piece for Democrats to trade away in exchange for some temporary Ukraine aid that Republicans already claim to support, that’s how they view it as well. But Republicans argue that Biden and Democrats are the ones who tied these issues together.
In October, the White House sent Congress a $106 billion supplemental aid proposal that included funding for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan—as well as $13.6 billion for “border security and enforcement.” But that border funding didn’t go far enough for Republicans, prompting them to demand those far more ambitious changes.
Now Republicans say Ukraine and substantive policy changes on the border are inextricably linked.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) bluntly put the chances of separating Ukraine aid and border policy at “zero.”
“Zilch,” Sullivan said. “And no Republican is going to do that.”
Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) was also emphatic that Republicans weren’t going to relent on border policy changes after Biden opened that door.
“The president linked these,” he said. “He made the decision to link these by putting it in a supplemental. So he needs to get to the table and start negotiating.”
Some Senate Republicans insist they are simply seeking what they see as commonsense concessions from the White House and congressional Democrats on asylum and parole. House conservatives, however, are seizing on the opportunity to demand even more forceful immigration changes, in the form of their severe border security bill known as H.R. 2. The chamber passed the bill in May without a single Democrat in support.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has backed those demands to include H.R. 2, telling Senate Republicans that as much of that bill as possible should be incorporated in the supplemental package. But if that insistence seems like even more of a poison pill than the Senate GOP’s bargaining chips, again, that’s because it is.
Reaching any level of consensus on immigration reform has bedeviled Congress for decades—Congress has not passed a major immigration policy since 1996.
So it’s hardly surprising that these Ukraine-border talks have not borne fruit. After weeks of trial and error, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called it “practically impossible” on Tuesday to pass Ukraine funding before Christmas. And Johnson indicated he’s unlikely to keep the House in session next week “twiddling their thumbs” as the Senate-led negotiations flail.
Notably on Tuesday, CBS reported that the White House is open to some concessions, including a new border authority to expel migrants without asylum screenings. A meeting involving top Senate and Biden administration negotiators ended Tuesday afternoon with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) saying they accomplished “substantive progress.”
Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) said the reported White House concessions would move the needle “in the right direction,” but said Democrats still needed to come closer to H.R. 2.
Democrats are about at their wits’ end with Republican demands—and they’re particularly frustrated by the GOP blaming Democrats for inaction. Just about every Democrat supports more aid for Ukraine, Democrats have shown willingness to make concessions on the border in exchange for a package, and the White House—if anyone needed a Schoolhouse Rock reminder on how government works—can’t pass a bill; that’s Congress’ job.
“It’s an Olympic gold medal gymnastic move to try to blame the White House for Congress not acting on something the White House asked for,” Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) told The Daily Beast.
“It's a matter of Republicans using leverage on two unrelated matters, which really speaks to their lack of commitment to defend the people of Ukraine,” he added.
Another Democrat, Kildee’s former roommate Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), told The Daily Beast that questions about the GOP’s seriousness on negotiating should be answered by their demands.
“All they’re willing to say is H.R. 2, which is crazytown,” Huffman said. “That takes away any credibility to their claim that they’re serious about doing something for Ukraine.”
Huffman also wasn’t having it when it came to Republicans holding Democrats responsible for the failure of Congress to approve an aid package, calling it “blame antics.”
“They’re the majority,” Huffman said. “It’s a deeply dysfunctional majority, but they’re the majority.”
One lawmaker, who spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity to criticize their party, said Democrats needed to be pushed toward some sort of border compromise to finally address the issue.
“But it can’t be something insane like H.R. 2, and the Republicans won’t budge off H.R. 2,” this Democrat said.
After a Tuesday meeting with Zelensky, Biden said that if Republicans didn’t get behind an aid package, they would hand Putin “the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him."
The future of Ukraine aid may hinge on how strongly Johnson wants to play hardball—and whether he thinks he can survive in his conservative conference if he gave in on Ukraine without those sweeping immigration changes. His insistence on pairing an immigration bill with unanimous Democratic opposition to Ukraine doesn’t exactly suggest Johnson is all that dedicated to helping the Ukrainian people, though some GOP supporters of Ukraine aid are adamant that he takes the issue seriously.
“He’s been honest on this issue and he explains why,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a staunch supporter of more aid. “He knows why we need to get Ukraine aid. But I also know he’s getting a lot of pressure to deliver something on border.”
Johnson has to navigate factions in the House GOP that are strongly opposed to sending any more money—or, really, more weapons—to Ukraine. As Freedom Caucus member Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) told The Daily Beast, “I’m not giving them a nickel.”
Nehls acknowledged that Johnson doesn’t necessarily need his vote if he were relying on Democrats to pass a package. “He realizes that there are certain members of the Republican Party that aren’t going to support any type of negotiations or any type of compromise,” Nehls said, further underscoring the futility of Democrats giving away major concessions just to pick up a portion of the GOP while still having to supply the bulk of the votes.
But Nehls also brought up that a motion to vacate the chair—which just brought down former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in October—is always hanging out there.
And if Johnson’s challenge wasn’t clear enough, Nehls suggested that even H.R. 2, the GOP dream concession, might not be enough for him to support Ukraine aid after Republicans removed certain provisions in that bill.
“We even screwed that up a little bit,” he said.
