Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Monday with President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. He’s got meetings on Capitol Hill today, even though Congress seems increasingly likely to break for the year without providing more aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan or the U.S. border crisis.
“Let me be frank with you, friends: If there’s anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill, it’s just Putin and his sick clique,” Zelenskyy said Monday at the National Defense University, where he appeared with Austin, CQ reported.
Austin agreed and reiterated the administration’s backing.
“Make no mistake: America’s commitment to support Ukraine against Russian aggression is unshakeable,” Austin said. “America’s word must be kept.”
But key Republican members of Congress have said they want more U.S.-Mexico border policy changes as part of a Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan aid package.
“With average daily border crossings near 10,000, [Customs and Border Protection] is now saying it’s releasing 6,600 illegal aliens into the interior every single day,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Monday. “The backlog of asylum cases sits at 3 million and counting. And officials have reported arrivals from more than 150 countries just since October 1st. This is what a crisis looks like.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the Senate’s top GOP negotiator on the administration’s supplemental spending request, told NBC News in an X video that a deal is unlikely this week, with Congress scheduled to leave at the end of the week for its holiday break.
“Every day makes it more complicated,” Lankford said.
DOD photo of Austin’s visit to Kyiv last month by Chad J. McNeeley
