At the last Senate meeting of the year, Senator Michael Bennet took the podium and, addressing a nearly empty chamber, called on Congress to strengthen support for Ukraine.
“Understand what’s at stake!” – he said.
During an emotional, nearly hour-long speech, the Colorado Democrat urged senators to view the nearly two-year conflict as a decisive clash between authoritarianism and democracy.
The legislator asked his colleagues to think about what it means “to fight on this frosty front line, not knowing whether we will solve the issue with ammunition.”
However, Congress went on recess and will return to work only in two weeks, while aid to Ukraine is almost exhausted.
The Biden administration plans to send another relief package before the New Year, but says it will be the last unless Congress approves more funds.
With support in Congress waning and conflict and unrest eroding global security, the United States is once again trying to assert its role in the world.
But under the influence of former President Donald Trump, Republican lawmakers are increasingly skeptical of American intervention abroad, especially when it comes to aid to Ukraine.
Support for Ukraine’s defense was once considered one of the themes that united lawmakers from both parties.
But now the fate of some $61 billion in funding is tied up in delicate negotiations over changes to border security and immigration policy.
“We live in a time when all sorts of forces are attacking democracy, here and abroad,” Bennett said.
The White House’s strategy of including Republican priority issues such as aid to Israel and border security in the package also raised questions among Democrats.
Progressive lawmakers critical of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, which has killed thousands of civilians, have called for humanitarian conditions to be placed on the money being given to Israel.
And Hispanic lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives have also been critical of asylum restrictions.
Any package faces great uncertainty in the House of Representatives, where Republican Speaker Mike Johnson maintains tenuous control over the closely divided chamber. Before becoming speaker in October, Johnson repeatedly voted against aid to Ukraine.
Trump’s allies in the House of Representatives have repeatedly tried to stop more US aid from being sent to Ukraine.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a close ally of the former president, said Republicans should not have even pushed for changes to border security policy. In her opinion, this could “give the Biden administration some political victories on the election field.”
White House staff and Senate delegates plan to work on the border security bill over the next two weeks in hopes of having it ready when Congress returns from recess.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told The Associated Press that he “has hope” but he “wouldn’t go so far as to say confidence.”
