The White House is getting directly involved in helping to break the Senate logjam regarding more aid to Ukraine.
The White House chief of staff, Jeff Zients, is now negotiating with a bipartisan group of senators including Chris Murphy, D-Conn., James Lankford, R-Okla., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., Semafor reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed Senate aid. Semafor also cited a person familiar with the negotiations saying Zients also is talking with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The news about the White House’s involvement comes as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Washington to lobby lawmakers to pass an aid package.
Republicans are insisting they won’t approve another round of aid to Ukraine, whose war with Russia will mark its second year on Feb. 24, until there are significant concessions on immigration, including limits on the U.S. asylum program, and other major changes to the Biden administration’s border policy.
On Monday, Lankford told reporters that he didn’t think there was enough time to reach an agreement before the Senate adjourns for Christmas. His view was echoed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who said it's "practically impossible" that more financial assistance to Ukraine will be approved before Christmas, The Hill reported Tuesday.
Also on Monday, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, and Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, urged Biden to reject any immigration policies from the Trump administration as concessions for the aid package.
“We are deeply concerned that the president would consider advancing Trump-era immigration policies that Democrats fought so hard against — and that he himself campaigned against — in exchange for aid to our allies that Republicans already support,” the lawmakers said in a news release. “Caving to demands for these permanent damaging policy changes as a ‘price to be paid’ for an unrelated one-time spending package would set a dangerous precedent.”
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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