San Diego Union-Tribune

LAWMAKERS SEEK UKRAINE AID DEAL

Dems may need to drop pandemic aid to secure GOP votes

- BY ALAN FRAM

Lawmakers are working toward compromise on President Joe Biden’s $33 billion Ukraine aid request, even as signs emerge that Democrats may need to swallow another COVID-19 setback and drop their goal of wrapping pandemic spending into the package.

Bipartisan talks among House and Senate Appropriat­ions committee leaders are under way in hopes of producing legislatio­n Congress could vote on as soon as next week, members of both parties say. Changes in Biden’s proposal are likely — the price tag, particular­ly for military spending, could rise — but there’s wide agreement on the urgency of helping Kyiv and regional allies resist Russia’s 10-week-old onslaught.

Republican budget-writers “are probably knocking some things out and adding some things. But I think by and large, everybody agrees we’ve got to do all we can to help,” said No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota. He said some Republican­s believe “this package may not be robust enough, but I think it probably strikes close to the right balance.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., cited broad backing for the measure Thursday but warned, “This isn’t about battling climate change.” McConnell aides said he was objecting to some proposed funding to internatio­nal organizati­ons

that Republican­s have criticized for spending money on alternativ­e energy initiative­s.

“If the Senate is serious about helping Ukraine win, we need to show it by passing supplement­al assistance. Clean, no strings attached, and soon,” McConnell said.

One participan­t said bargainers must resolve details of Biden proposals to provide health care, food and other benefits to Ukrainian refugees in the U.S. and to strengthen government

powers to use assets seized from billionair­e friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin to help Ukraine. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe the talks publicly.

When Biden sent his $33 billion proposal to Congress last week, he wrote that “to avoid needless deaths in the United States and around the world,” Congress should include additional billions for COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines. Democrats

have hoped doing so would pressure the GOP to accept the pandemic spending, which Democrats say is needed to prepare for the virus’ next curveball.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has resorted to more lawyerly language, not specifying that the two issues should be combined. “We need to figure out the best way to get both done, and that’s what we’re going to try to do in the next few weeks,” he told reporters Tuesday.

Minutes earlier, McConnell spelled out his view of the best way forward.

“There is overwhelmi­ng bipartisan support for getting the Ukrainians as much help as they need as quickly as possible,” McConnell said. “For that to happen here in Congress, that package needs to be moved without the other extraneous issues.”

While combining Ukraine and pandemic money into one package has broad Democratic support, bargainers say party leaders haven’t made a final decision on that yet. Senate Appropriat­ions Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in an interview that he wants funding for Ukraine and COVID-19 tied together because both are crucial.

“It may” fall out of the bill, Leahy said of the pandemic money, “and I think that would be a mistake.”

Biden’s overall proposal is anchored by $20 billion to help Ukraine and nearby countries defend themselves and replenish U.S. arms shipped to the area. There’s $8.5 billion to bolster Ukraine’s economy and government and $3 billion for refugees and to supplement food supplies around the world disrupted by the war.

Rapid approval of Ukraine aid would let both parties avoid an electionye­ar display of dysfunctio­n by spiraling into a spat over the widely popular cause of helping Ukraine avoid being overpowere­d by Russia.

Passage of Ukraine aid separately would also preserve GOP hopes of boxing Democrats into a corner on border security, an issue Republican­s are banking on in November’s elections for congressio­nal control.

Should Senate Democrats press ahead with a separate pandemic bill, Republican­s plan to force a vote on retaining a Trumpera order citing the pandemic as justificat­ion for quickly removing asylum seekers crossing the Mexican border into the U.S. The Biden administra­tion has planned to let that rule expire May 23, and Democrats are divided over whether to extend it.

 ?? J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE AP ?? Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday, “If the Senate is serious about helping Ukraine win, we need to show it by passing supplement­al assistance. Clean, no strings attached, and soon.”
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE AP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday, “If the Senate is serious about helping Ukraine win, we need to show it by passing supplement­al assistance. Clean, no strings attached, and soon.”

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