Republican leaders in the House and Senate reiterated their previous positions on Ukraine funding after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday.
While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) supports President Biden‘s push to tie aid to Ukraine and Israel along with other security purposes together, he maintains that Republicans’ border policy priorities must be included.
“We know that our border, just like Ukraine’s borders and Israel’s and Taiwan’s, must be inviolable,” McConnell said. “That’s why, for months now, we’ve supported supplemental action on all four of the most pressing national security challenges we face.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who helped pass a standalone Israel aid bill through the House, said again that the House GOP’s border security demands plus more info on how U.S. funds are being spent in Ukraine are conditions for more aid:
“I’ve made this very clear, again, from the very beginning, when I was handed the gavel, we needed clarity on what we’re doing in Ukraine and how we’ll have proper oversight of the spending of precious taxpayer dollars of the American citizens, and we needed a transformative change at the border.”
Democrats and Republicans remain strongly divided on border policy. Still, President Biden told Zelensky at their meeting Tuesday, “I don’t want you giving up hope.”
Zelensky’s U.S. pitch-making continues off Capitol Hill Tuesday evening with a scheduled appearance on Fox News’s “Special Report” during the 6 p.m. hour.
Check out The Hill’s live blog of Zelensky’s day in Washington.
