Ukraine Aid Falters in Senate as Republicans Insist on Border Restrictions - New York Times

Legislation to send military aid to Ukraine and Israel was on the brink of collapse, after a briefing devolved into a screaming match one day before a critical test vote in the Senate.

A classified briefing with administration officials called to shore up support devolved into a partisan screaming match on Tuesday afternoon, with Republicans angrily accusing Democrats of trying to steamroller over their demands for a border crackdown.

The meltdown, which took place on the eve of a critical test vote in the Senate on a $110.5 billion emergency spending bill, not only made it clear that the measure would fail, but severely dimmed the prospects for any bipartisan agreement soon.

A vote to block aid would spotlight flagging U.S. resolve at a critical time in Ukraine’s war against President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia.

“We are about to abandon Ukraine,” Senator Christopher S. Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who played a leading role in negotiations with Republicans over the past few weeks, said as he left the briefing with cabinet-level officials.

“When Vladimir Putin marches into a NATO country, they will rue the day they decided to play politics with the future of Ukraine’s security,” he said of Republicans.

Republican senators leaving the briefing said they were outraged that administration officials had refused to answer their questions about border security, which they said was a prerequisite for any plan to send emergency help to American allies.

“They want tens of billions of dollars to help our friends and allies overseas, but they’re not willing to do what’s necessary to prevent a potential crisis at the border,” said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas.

“The Biden administration just does not seem to care.”

Even Republicans who have argued vociferously for helping Ukraine amid waning support in their party for doing so said there was no appetite for a bill to do so unless it also clamped down on immigration.

“Count me in on Ukraine; if we do not help Ukraine and Putin gets away with this, you’ll be in a war with NATO — I got all that,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina.

“You will get a robust Republican vote for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan if you have real border security to deal with what I think is one of the biggest national security problems I’ve seen since I’ve been up here.”

Mr. Biden called the prospect of allowing aid to lapse “just wrong” on Tuesday night.

“The failure to support Ukraine is just absolutely crazy,” he told reporters. “It’s against U.S. interests.”

"We’re going to get that in,” he vowed.

The planned vote, coming just days after the White House warned that the United States would soon run out of money to send weapons to Ukraine, comes at perhaps the most uncertain moment for the beleaguered nation since the first chaotic months of the war.

Ukraine urgently needs more ammunition and other weapons to try to turn the tide on the battlefield.

The country’s counteroffensive against entrenched Russian forces in southern Ukraine has so far failed to meet its objectives, and Moscow’s forces have been going on the offensive in the east.

Senators had expected that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine would join their briefing via secure video to make a personal appeal for more aid. But Mr. Zelensky canceled at the last minute, leaving the pitch to Biden administration officials: Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken; Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III; Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and leaders from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Republicans complained that the roster of speakers included no border officials, accusing Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, of refusing to engage on the issue.

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