US Aid for Ukraine and Israel Held Up by Fight Over Border

Passing an aid package for Israel and Ukraine sits at the top of the Senate's to-do list ahead of its more than two-week winter recess beginning December 15, yet the upper chamber was unable to move forward on the effort this week due to friction around border enforcement policy.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been adamant that President Joe Biden's $106 billion request for Israel and Ukraine funding, border enforcement, countering Chinese encroachment of Taiwan and humanitarian assistance must be passed as a single package.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, said Republicans will not offer votes to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold needed to pass legislation unless the package also includes "substantive" changes in border policy, a feat that has not been accomplished in over 30 years.

With that effort at an impasse as lawmakers face disagreement over changes to the asylum system, Republicans who have already been critical of providing continued funding for Ukraine are growing louder in their desire to see the aid package split into separate parts.

"Each one of those issues is so controversial within each conference," Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas told Newsweek. "I don't see any way before Christmas we hammer this out. To me, it's about priorities—border, border, border. That's my No. 1 priority."

Marshall said that he doesn't want to "talk" about Ukraine until Congress reaches an agreement on the border. However, while that stands as his top priority, Marshall understands reaching an agreement will take time, whereas passing funding for Israel could move more swiftly, given the large amount of bipartisan support surrounding the issue.

Unlike the border, where immigration advocates spar with enforcement hawks, and Ukraine, where deficit hawks clash with those who view the effort as vital to countering Russia, most lawmakers back funding Israel.

Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, according to The Economist Group's 2022 Democracy Index, has been a close ally of the U.S. for much longer than Ukraine. And while some among the hard left oppose aiding the country entirely due to its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, most Democratic and Republican lawmakers support funding its defense, including members of the hard right who embrace the country's upholding of Judeo-Christian values in a largely Islamic region.

Given these complex political dynamics, those who broadly support all aspects of Biden's aid request see packaging the issues together as not just the most practical path forward but perhaps the only path that yields success.

"In Congress, there are people who are really committed to getting aid for Israel, others who are really committed to getting aid for Ukraine, still others who want humanitarian relief money for Gaza or additional support for Taiwan," Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told Newsweek. "By putting a package together that assures more people that their most intensely felt need is covered, Congress is more likely to get the votes needed to pass it."

House Speaker Mike Johnson has expressed support for Ukraine but could face opposition from the hard right in bringing an aid bill to vote. The speaker already told Republican senators during a Wednesday meeting that it could be difficult for him to pass a joint aid package. Even if the package contained border policy changes, hard- right Republicans could withhold support if the bill does not accomplish some of their most partisan priorities.

Nonetheless, members of Republican leadership remain committed to the strategy of addressing each of these issues jointly. West Virginia GOP Senator Shelley Moore Capito emphasized that U.S. objectives regarding Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, humanitarian assistance and the border are "interconnected" and a package addressing each issue is "probably enough to win the day."

"I think that certainly Ukraine, pushing Putin back, supporting democracy, keeping him out of NATO countries, is important for our national interest. I think it's all about our own national interest," Capito told Newsweek. "Supporting Israel is the same, a friend of democracy, a great ally, and to rid us of Hamas would be in our national interest.

"The same with China," Capito continued. "We see China as a rival, so I think that is interconnected to all of this. And then again, if we look at the border, our national security is at risk when we see an out-of-control border policy. I think that's why they all need to be together."

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