As the House and Senate work to complete various year end items, funding for Israel and Ukraine remains elusive. President Joe Biden will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Tuesday, the administration announced Sunday, as Congress looks increasingly unlikely to pass additional funding for Ukraine and as U.S. officials warn that the country will run out of money by the end of the year to fight against Russia’s invasion. Zelensky also will meet with some congressional leaders on Tuesday including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York ) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) who also invited Zelensky to speak to senators Tuesday morning. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) will also meet with Zelensky. The debate over Ukraine funding has been mired in a broader battle over a $110 billion national security supplemental the White House requested that includes about $61 billion for Ukraine, as well as funding for Israel, humanitarian aid for Gaza and money for the U.S.-Mexico border. Senate Republicans last week blocked a procedural vote to advance the national security bill because it did not include changes to border policy. Every Senate Republican voted against advancing the resolution plus Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) who opposed the measure over its inclusion of unconditional aid to Israel. Leader Schumer changed his yes vote to no to bring the resolution forward again. Reports have said there is just about $2 billion still available in the eyes of the administration that the United States can send out to Ukraine. There is $4.8 billion left in the presidential drawdown authority, but that funding is used to send existing US stockpiles to Ukraine and the US only has about $1 billion left to replenish those stockpiles. There is then potentially about $1 billion left in intelligence and defense surveillance funds.
Senate negotiators continued talking over the weekend but there were no major breakthroughs on a border compromise. While the White House appears willing to offer major concessions on border policy, including new asylum limits and subjecting more undocumented immigrants to a fast-track deportation process, Republicans are seeking more. Those proposals include a national expulsion authority — similar to a Covid-era restriction that permitted border authorities to swiftly turn away migrants at the US-Mexico border — and chipping away at the president’s parole authority, which allows migrants to temporarily live in the US on a case-by-case basis. The Biden administration has used parole in emergency situations, like to admit Ukrainians after Russia’s invasion and Afghans after the Afghanistan withdrawal, as well as to admit certain migrants. Republicans have also floated subjecting anyone released in the US to electronic monitoring, including children.
For today, the Senate reconvened at 3:00 P.M. and will continue working on nominations with a vote on confirmation of the nomination of Richard E.N. Federico to be United States Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit.
The House convened at 2:00 P.M. and will consider fourteen bills under suspension of the Rules, including H.R. 6503 – Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2023, Part II.
