Sen. Warner: Congressional failure to pass Ukraine aid ‘tremendous gift’ to Putin

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Thursday the recent failure of Congress to pass a new round of aid to Ukraine is “a tremendous gift” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“You know who is going to have the best Christmas imaginable? Vladimir Putin,” the Virginia senator posted to his account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Our failure to renew aid to Ukraine is a tremendous gift to him. We must get it done next year.”

The Senate adjourned Wednesday without a deal on funding for Ukraine or border security, ending a historically unproductive legislative session. Its members are not scheduled to come back until early January.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) attributed the absence of achievements to the influence of former President Trump on the Republican-majority House.

“Under a Republican House majority this year, we saw a year marked by chaos, extremism and paralysis. There’s no question that divided government and MAGA extremism made legislating in 2023 very difficult,” Schumer said in floor remarks.

“For much of the year it was as if Donald Trump himself were running the show over in the House, making it exceedingly hard to get anything done,” he lamented.  

Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted that it would be “practically impossible” to pass military aid to Ukraine before Christmas, even though negotiations on a supplemental spending package were ongoing.

“All I have said is [it’s] practically impossible, even though we reach an agreement, to craft it, get it through the Senate, get it through the House before Christmas,” McConnell said. “Doesn’t mean it’s not important.”

Republican senators have insisted on major immigration policy changes in exchange for supporting President Biden’s $60 billion spending request for Ukraine. So far Democrats have rejected the GOP demands as too extreme.