Providing further US aid to Ukraine before the end of the year is becoming increasingly unattainable for President Joe Biden, according to Star Tribune.
The problems are compounded by the fact that Republicans insist that the aid be paired with changes to America’s immigration and border policies, and after Mr Biden’s recent statement, Republicans quickly returned to demands they had previously shelved, hardening their positions and trying to shift the talks to the right.
The Biden administration has been quietly involved in Senate negotiations on border policy in recent weeks, assisting a small group of senators trying to reach an agreement. The president is trying to meet GOP demands to reduce the historic number of migrants at the US-Mexico border.
Mr Biden faces the prospect that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denial of victory over Ukraine will collapse as support for funding the war in the US wanes, especially among Republicans.
It has been reported that if additional aid is not approved by the end of the year, it could have disastrous consequences for Ukraine and its ability to fight. However, deadlines are running out as Congress will leave Washington in mid-December for the upcoming recess.
Republicans need to show they are serious about reaching a compromise, not just throwing on the floor basically Donald Trump’s border policies, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The GOP proposal calls for an end to the humanitarian parole programme now in place for existing classes of migrants Ukrainians, Afghans, Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians. Republican senators proposed using monitoring systems, such as ankle bracelets, for people, including children, who are apprehended at the border and awaiting parole. Republicans want to bar people from applying for asylum if they’ve travelled through another country where they could be granted asylum. GOP lawmakers also want to revive executive powers that would allow the president to shut down entry for a wide variety of reasons.
Lankford declined to discuss specifics after Thursday’s meeting, but said the historic number of migrants at the border cannot be ignored.
Do you want large numbers of undocumented individuals and unscreened individuals without work permits, without access to the rest of the economy?
Before Thursday, senators had made some progress in the negotiations, with an agreement to raise the initial standard for migrants to enter the asylum system. The administration has said it is agreeable to such changes and that it may agree to an expansion of expedited removal. At a contrary, immigration advocates and progressives in Congress were alarmed by the direction of the negotiations. For instance, Robin Barnard, director of refugee outreach at Human Rights First, was also alarmed by such negotiations and called the current state of the talks “absolute crisis moment.”
Regardless, Republican senators have taken an aggressive stance and tried to drag the president directly into the negotiations, especially with his loss of popularity and the upcoming 2024 election. As a result, the White House will have to enter negotiations. Every GOP senator voted to reject legislation to provide tens of billions of dollars in military and economic aid to Ukraine.
