Every Senate Republican voted Wednesday to block a procedural vote to advance a national security bill that includes $61 billion of Ukraine aid because they are demanding that we defend our own border, which President Biden has steadfastly refused to do. The Ukraine money was part of a larger $110B package that also included aid to Israel and Taiwan.
Aid to Ukraine, which is mired in a war with Russia, has become an increasingly contentious issue, with Republicans demanding more accountability about where exactly the money is going and what the overarching strategy is.
But it was the ongoing disaster at the border that caused them to shut this package down for the time being. As my colleague Mike Miller reported, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had indicated the move on Tuesday:
"[Ukraine aid is] dependent upon enactment of transformative change to our nation's border security laws."
The Speaker first floated the idea of linking Ukraine aid and Biden's border disaster in November.
"The American people feel very strongly about this, and I do as well. We have things that we can and should do around the world, but we have to take care of our own house first.
"As long as the border is wide open, we're opening ourselves up for great threats. And again, it's just a matter of principle that if we're going to take care of a border in Ukraine, we need to take care of America's as well. And I think there's bipartisan support for that idea."
Now they've done what they said they were going to do:
Earlier Wednesday, President Biden predictably passed the buck regarding the border, saying it was Congress' problem and not his terrible policies. He also accused Republicans of being extreme, as Nick Arama reported:
He also spoke about Ukraine and the border during remarks at the White House. This is shocking what he says, but liberal media will ignore that he said it and what it means.
He says Republicans trying to hold up funding for Ukraine until he does something to secure our border is holding Ukrainian funding hostage "with their extreme, partisan border policies."
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) was adamant that the Republicans were doing the right thing in demanding that our border be secured:
...the Biden administration doesn't really care about Israel aid. That's the bottom line. Just like they don't really care about the border. They put those things together with Ukraine, which is their top priority, apparently over everything else.
So Laura, the border is wide open. We had a record number of terrorists on the terrorist watchlist come across the border last year, and that's just the ones that we know about. And yeah, what's the administration want, more money for Ukraine? It's Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine.
And I'm gonna tell you I for one am not gonna vote for a dime more for Ukraine until the United States security -- our border security -- is actually made whole and made right.
With this move, Republicans have upped the ante in their fight to get Biden to pay attention to the border. The president can keep playing the blame game all he wants, but the fact is that at least 2.5 million entered our country illegally in fiscal year 2023, a historic high, and it was under his watch.
Mike Johnson and his Senate colleagues threw down the gauntlet tonight; we'll see how Biden responds. He said Wednesday before the vote that he was willing to "negotiate" policy changes, but I'm not holding my breath given his track record.