Morning Report — Why did Ukraine aid get tangled in border politics?

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 12/05/23 6:30 AM ET

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Ukraine will exhaust its existing U.S. military support within weeks, the White House warned Monday. 

Congress, soon set to exit Washington for the year, may not break its impasse about whether and how to approve $106 billion requested by President Biden in October to help Kyiv fortify its defense against Russia’s invasion. The U.S. congressional stalemate puts Biden’s “as-long-as-it-takes” backing for Kyiv to the test, emboldens some right-wing leaders in Europe who seek to shift away from spending on Ukraine and encourages Russian President Vladimir Putin that his divide and conquer strategy is working.   

Administration officials argue that a vote against continuing to assist Ukraine is a vote to back Putin’s aims.  

“We are out of money to support Ukraine in this fight,” Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young wrote in a letter to congressional leaders.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday moved to schedule a procedural vote this week on the president’s national security supplemental request while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this afternoon will join a classified briefing with senators via secure video, hoping that renewed lobbying on behalf of his country may prove persuasive. Ukraine sent Ruslan Stefanchuk, its parliamentary speaker, to the Capitol today to meet with lawmakers in both parties and both chambers. 

House conservatives object to sending Ukraine additional U.S. support without “accountability” for funds already spent and munitions already shared during Kyiv’s war with Russia. Some Republicans seek to leverage Biden’s international aid request to call attention to administration policies at the southern border with Mexico. Even if senators were able to hammer out a deal with significant border concessions, such an accord would face a steep climb in the House. Bipartisan immigration proposals have gone nowhere in Congress for decades.

Patience is thin. Finger pointing has begun and the stakes are high.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) accused Republicans of intransigence as lawmakers trade options for migration and border compromises in an effort to unlock votes for more international aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. 

Schumer said Democrats won’t keep “going in circles” with the GOP.

“Progress on the national security package has been on ice for weeks,” the majority leader added, “because Republicans have injected partisan and extreme immigration measures into the debate.”

▪ The Washington Post: Miscalculations, divisions marked the offensive planning by the U.S. and Ukraine.

▪ The Associated Press: The president’s $14.3 billion request to Congress for supplemental assistance for Israel is expected to pass in some form. But some Democratic senators, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), argue that Israel must reduce civilian deaths in Gaza as part of receiving new military assistance from Washington.

▪ The Hill: Legislative backing for compensation for victims of radiation exposure faces an uncertain future. 

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:

▪ U.S. and Japanese divers located the remains of five crew members and wreckage from an Air Force Osprey aircraft that crashed last week off southwestern Japan.

▪ Spotify, seeking to slash costs next year and in 2025, announced Monday it will shed 17 percent of its 9,000-employee staff, the company’s third round of job cuts this year.

▪ Here’s how to watch Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate, which will include former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who made the cut, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. The 8 p.m. event in Alabama will be broadcast by NewsNation, the cable channel owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill. (Former President Trump says he’ll skip it and appear tonight at an Iowa town hall broadcast by Fox News).

OUST, EXPEL, IMPEACH? House conservatives, who allege without evidence that Biden used his power in government to financially benefit his son and himself, are moving toward an impeachment inquiry — with the approval of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Some GOP members believe an official inquiry could force the release of damning evidence of wrongdoing by Biden. Across the Capitol, Senate Republicans are less gung-ho, fearing that talk of impeachment next year will become a political loser by distracting from policy issues voters care about. The most vociferous advocate for impeaching Biden and investigating Hunter Biden: candidate Trump.  

The White House on Monday accused Johnson of bowing to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand Republican from Georgia, plus her conservative House Freedom Caucus colleagues. 

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who is leading a Biden investigation, on Monday erroneously described that repayment checks written to Biden in 2018 by his son as “part of a pattern revealing Joe Biden knew about, participated in and benefited from his family’s influence-peddling schemes.” The three checks to the elder Biden, then out of office, were payments by his son for a 2018 Ford Raptor truck, for which his father signed. Hunter Biden used the truck for about a year, The Washington Post reported, citing its forensic examination of records. 

LEADING THE DAY

© The Hill / Illustration, Samantha Wong; file photos | Presidential primaries were upended unexpectedly in recent U.S. history. 

POLITICS

HISTORY REWIND: The final Republican primary debate of 2023 is set for Wednesday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., coming amid a race that has been unusually static. It will be hosted by NewsNation. The Hill and NewsNation are both part of Nexstar Media Group.

Trump has retained a massive lead in national polls, as well as in the key early states of Iowa and New Hampshire. The drama up to now has mostly been around the battle for second place, with Haley on the brink of eclipsing DeSantis, in part due to strong debate performances. Trump has declined to participate in the debates so far and appears unlikely to change his tune for Wednesday.

Even though this year’s primary contest seems stable, The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes in the Memo that there is a big historical caveat — five dramatic moments in the past 20 years, drawn from both major parties, where presidential primaries were upended.

ANTISEMITISM ON CAMPUS: The presidents of Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania will be called to the mat today after weeks of backlash over their schools’ responses to surging antisemitism. GOP lawmakers have already called two other hearings to discuss the rise in antisemitism at American schools, bringing in experts who have said schools have not done enough and Jewish students who testified they did not feel safe on campus (The Hill).

“Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen countless examples of antisemitic demonstrators on college campuses,” House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said in a statement announcing the hearing called “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.” The administrators, Foxx said, “have largely stood by, allowing horrific rhetoric to fester and grow.” 

2024 ROUNDUP

▪ North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a GOP presidential candidate who never polled above single digits, ended his long-shot White House bid Monday. He blamed media inattention and Republican Party rules for his poor showing.

▪ ⚠️ If Trump returns to the White House, another term will be more radical than his first, The New York Times reports. The Atlantic, in a special issue, points to his potential threat to democracy. A new book by former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) makes similar points. Trump is firing back at such media coverage, as is his ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

▪ Biden’s campaign is trying to shift the president’s narrative away from trumpeting what he’s done in office to attack what Trump did and would do again as president. It’s proving to be a challenge. 

▪ 💰 Biden is crisscrossing the country this week, headlining fundraisers in Boston, Washington and Los Angeles. Grammy winner James Taylor will perform at today’s Beantown event, and Biden will be joined by first lady Jill Biden at Friday’s fundraiser in California.

▪ Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) faces a primary challenge from a top Westchester County Democrat, who previously billed such a race as a choice between the left and the far left. 

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets at 10 a.m.

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. 

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. Biden will travel this morning to Boston for three back-to-back fundraisers this afternoon and evening. Biden will return to the White House by 10 p.m.

Vice President Harris will discuss gun violence prevention at 1:15 p.m. with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords during a West Wing meeting. Harris will hold a virtual event at 2:30 p.m. with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona for university and college presidents focused on access to contraception. Harris this evening will join her husband in hosting a holiday reception at the Naval Observatory in Washington.  

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Mexico City for meetings with government officials and private sector leaders.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is in Washington where he will host a service event at 10:30 a.m. with Senate spouses focused on women experiencing homelessness. The gathering will be at the Naval Observatory. He will join the vice president at the observatory at 6:05 p.m. to host a holiday party.

ZOOM IN

© The Associated Press / Hatem Moussa | Palestinians inspect a house after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza, on Monday.

MIDDLE EAST 

Israel intensified its bombardment in and around Gaza’s second-largest city today, as it remains under U.S. pressure to prevent further mass casualties. Israel says it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza after obliterating much of the north. Aerial bombardment and the ground offensive have already driven three-fourths of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.

The military told Palestinian civilians in October to flee south in Gaza to find safety from airstrikes. Now dozens more Palestinians have been killed and others wounded in southern Gaza in areas to which Israel directed them to relocate. Israel early Monday ordered Palestinians to leave parts of Gaza’s main southern city, Khan Younis (The Associated Press and Reuters). The United Nations’ office for humanitarian affairs said the 24 hours leading up to Monday afternoon marked some of the most intense bombing by Israel since the war started (The New York Times).

In November, Israeli forces largely captured the northern half of Gaza, and following the collapse Friday of a weeklong truce, forces began an intense offensive in the south. Israel’s death toll is 1,200 since the Hamas attack in October. Palestinian officials say more than 15,000 Palestinians, including children, have been killed in Gaza. Distinctions between Hamas fighters and civilians do not exist in the statistics.

The Hill’s Brad Dress breaks down key things to know as the fighting in Gaza moves south.

▪ The Daily Beast: Former Israeli soldiers warn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “revenge is not a war plan.”

▪ The Associated Press: Putin will discuss the Israel-Hamas war during a one-day trip to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that the U.S. is consulting with allies on “appropriate action” in response to the latest Houthi drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea. Three commercial ships came under attack in the international waters of the Red Sea on Sunday, U.S. military officials said, as Houthi militants claimed responsibility for the latest incursion in the Middle East (ABC News).

“We have made clear that the entire world needs to step up together, not the U.S. alone, but all of us working together to deal with this emerging challenge that the Houthis present, backed by Iran,” Sullivan said. “We’re going to take appropriate action in consultation with others and we will do so at a time and place of our choosing.”

Politico: U.S. officials are frustrated by the Biden administration’s response to attacks in the Red Sea.

ELSEWHERE

© The Associated Press / Stephanie Scarbrough | The Supreme Court Monday weighed bankruptcy issues tied to the maker of opioid OxyContin as activists lined a security fence with mock headstones. 

COURTS

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES appear divided over Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy deal, questioning Monday whether the court can immunize the Sackler family from civil lawsuits for their role in the opioid crisis. The dispute will dictate the fate of a years-in-the-making settlement and more broadly how companies can use bankruptcy to resolve mass injury claims. The Biden administration has lodged objections along with a small group of creditors about liability releases for the Sacklers, who previously controlled the company. In 2019, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy as it faced a flood of lawsuits alleging the addictive painkiller’s aggressive marketing fueled the opioid epidemic (The Hill).

During a nearly two-hour argument that transcended ideological lines, several justices raised concerns about how the administration’s position would effectively unravel the settlement. Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted a 30-year history of bankruptcy courts approving such releases, also describing a “disconnect” between opioid victims and the administration as the conservative justice insisted the government was saying the perspective of victims “doesn’t matter.”

“What the opioid victims and their families are saying is, you, the federal government, with no stake in this at all, are coming in and telling the families, ‘No, we’re not going to give you prompt payment for what’s happened to your family,’” Kavanaugh said.

TRUMP IS SEEKING TO APPEAL a gag order barring him and his counsel from discussing his New York fraud trial judge’s staff to the state’s highest court. A lower appeals court reinstated Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron’s limited gag order last week. Trump’s counsel argued in his client’s request to eliminate the gag order that the trial judge’s enforcement “casts serious doubt” on his ability to serve as an “impartial finder of fact” overseeing the former president’s case (The Hill).

▪ The Hill: How much does former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani owe two Georgia poll workers for falsely claiming they helped steal the 2020 election from Trump? A jury will decide.  

▪ Slate: Trump’s attempt to delay his Jan. 6 trial receives a double blow.

ENVIRONMENT 

METHANE: The Environmental Protection Agency this weekend issued an update to a regulatory metric that will justify stricter climate rules going forward. In releasing an updated rule aimed at cutting methane emissions from oil and gas, the agency also unveiled an updated estimate of the “social cost” of carbon dioxide. The Hill’s Rachel Frazin reports this is an economic estimate that is used in agency rulemaking to calculate the benefits of taking action that mitigates climate change — or the cost of not doing so — as more global warming means more storms, heatwaves and damage to the planet. The new estimate nearly quadruples the estimated cost of carbon dioxide to the world, bringing it up from about $51 to about $190 per ton. 

▪ The Washington Post: How a single word could hold up global talks to save the planet. The COP28 climate talks in Dubai feature a big fight over whether to phase “out” or phase “down” fossil fuels.

▪ The New York Times: Finding cash for the climate is tough. Two new pledges show why. Money is a very big sticking point at this year’s United Nations climate summit. Part of the problem is that American promises often go unmet.

OPINION

■ The backlash to anti-Israel protests threatens free speech, by Michelle Goldberg, columnist, The New York Times.

■ Israel and Ukraine are fighting the same fight, by Julie Fishman Rayman, opinion contributor, The Hill.

THE CLOSER

© The Associated Press / Ian Nicholson | The Oxford English Dictionary, pictured in 2007.

And finally … What’s in a word? In politics, think “Bidenomics.” In Gen Z slang, think “sus,” “slay,” “yeet” and “simp.”

English is undeniably an adaptive language, thanks to our synapses, our friends and internet culture, as demonstrated by annual “word-of-the-year” celebrations for “rizz” (slang for charisma), selected Monday by Oxford University Press, and “authentic,” chosen by Merriam-Webster last week.

Generative AI’s ChatGPT learns language by scraping the internet. Wily scientists tricked the app to regurgitate bits of its original source material, the forensics of which can be quite personal.

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