vote against beginning debate<\/a> on a funding bill that included more than $61 billion for Ukraine.<\/p>\nZelenskyy and Austin seemed to be working to convince those who weren\u2019t with them about the countries\u2019 commitment to each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can count on Ukraine,\u201d the Ukrainian leader said, \u201cand we hope to be able to count just as much on you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Austin echoed the sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake no mistake: America\u2019s commitment to support Ukraine against Russian aggression is unshakeable,\u201d Austin said. \u201cAmerica\u2019s word must be kept.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy called Ukraine \u201cthe first front\u201d in what he called Putin\u2019s war on freedom and a \u201cstepping stone\u201d for the Russian leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s wrecking everyday life in Ukraine,\u201d Zelenskyy said, \u201cbut his real target is the freedom \u2014 freedom people enjoy from Warsaw to Chicago to Yokohama.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer also warned that Putin would see an American pullback from Ukraine as invitation for more provocation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Republicans in the Senate do not show they\u2019re serious about finalizing an agreement for the national security package, Vladimir Putin is going to walk through Ukraine and right through Europe,\u201d the Democrat from New York said on the Senate floor Monday. \u201cBoth parties understand that aiding Ukraine and resisting Putin are critical for our national security, but Republicans and only Republicans are holding everything up because of unrealistic maximalist demands on the border.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy\u2019s Tuesday agenda includes a bipartisan Senate meeting in the morning, as well as engagements with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and a visit to the White House to meet with President Joe Biden. John Kirby, the National Security Council\u2019s coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters traveling with the president to Philadelphia on Monday that the time was right for the U.S. president to an extend an invitation to his counterpart from Ukraine, days before Congress plans to wrap up work for the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs winter approaches \u2026 we\u2019re seeing now increased missile and drone attacks by the Russian armed forces against civilian infrastructure. We expect that that will continue, particularly against energy infrastructure, and as the Russian forces continue to try to take offensive action against the Ukrainians all along that front, but particularly in the east,\u201d Kirby said.<\/p>\n
The legislation to provide assistance for Ukraine also includes funds for Israel, Taiwan and border security. Republican lawmakers in particular have said there can be no agreement on the foreign and military assistance without addressing immigration policy.<\/p>\n
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., highlighted his conference\u2019s demands related to the work of U.S. Customs and Border Protection when he arrived on the Senate floor Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith average daily border crossings near 10,000, CBP is now saying it\u2019s releasing 6,600 illegal aliens into the interior every single day,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cThe backlog of asylum cases sits at 3 million and counting. And officials have reported arrivals from more than 150 countries just since October 1st. This is what a crisis looks like. This is what the Democratic leader spent last week insisting was \u2018extraneous\u2019 to America\u2019s national security.\u201d<\/p>\n
McConnell noted that the president has expressed a willingness to make compromises on immigration policy, and Kirby said that Biden would be making another public push for the proposed spending package on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is exactly the right time to be having President Zelenskyy in town to have these discussions because of what\u2019s going on in Ukraine, the increased activity we\u2019re seeing by the Russian armed forces as winter approaches, but also what\u2019s going on on Capitol Hill, and the argument that the president\u2019s going to be making with all of you tomorrow about the need to fund this supplemental,\u201d Kirby said.<\/p>\n
As of last Thursday, the Pentagon said there was about $4.8 billion still available for the president to draw down for Ukraine, but as top Biden administration officials have said, there is no \u201cmagical pot\u201d of money available when the authorities are exhausted.<\/p>\n
_____<\/p>\n
(Caroline Coudriet contributed to this report.)<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
\u00a92023 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com.<\/a> Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\nKeyWords:: 630c8b11-e57b-4cf4-aa90-60ad24946708
\n630c8b11 e57b 4cf4 aa90 60ad24946708
\nBC-US-UKRAINE:CON
\nBC US UKRAINE CON<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON \u2014 A day before meetings on Capitol Hill, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that the delay in the U.S. approving further assistance for his country\u2019s defensive war against Russia was offering inspiration to Vladimir Putin. \u201cLet me be frank with you, friends: If there\u2019s anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill, it\u2019s just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63291,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63290\/revisions\/63291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}