The world — and the American interest in what happens outside its borders — doesn’t have time to wait for Republicans in Washington to get their talking points straight.
GOP hard-liners in the House, at the behest of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, frustratingly torpedoed comprehensive legislation to address the immigration chaos on the U.S. southern border. That measure — the product of months of bipartisan negotiations — would have provided resources to improve the broken system of adjudicating migrants’ asylum claims and would have given the president far more authority to regulate the influx at the border.
We don’t need to remind Chicagoans how that border mayhem has caused chaos in our city. Thanks to Trump, no relief is in sight.
Predictably, Trump judged passage of such a bill a threat to his electoral prospects in November, preferring to keep the white-hot border issue for his campaign rather than allow his rival Joe Biden to take credit for a potential solution. His word was a command for too many in Congress, who remain in the ex-president’s thrall despite the multiple criminal indictments he faces and his disdain for our democratic institutions and traditions.
The demise of this rare chance at progress on immigration, an issue that has vexed the country for decades and is now at a boiling point, is regrettable. But it shouldn’t keep Congress from doing what’s necessary to promote critical American interests abroad.
First and foremost is support for Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty against Vladimir Putin’s Russia, a war now entering its third year. The conflict in the Middle East has diverted much attention from the survival of Ukraine, but, we have said from day one of Putin’s invasion, it remains overwhelmingly in this country’s interest to defeat Putin’s ambitions in that part of the world.
Ukraine’s grit and resolve have been remarkable, but the battle is at a precarious point. The first year of the war was a disaster for Russia, as Putin’s goal of quickly overrunning Ukraine proved delusional. Last year, the war’s second, featured a Ukrainian counter-attack aimed at evicting Russia from parts of Ukraine it’s occupying, which also proved overly optimistic.
The two sides now are in something of a stalemate. But Ukraine is in desperate need of more American military assistance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly is preparing to replace the country’s chief military commander.
The situation is fraught enough that Ukrainian troops can’t fire at Russian soldiers advancing in their direction for fear of running out of ammunition, which is running low, The New York Times recently reported. Russian troops understand this and so are sending small groups forward in intervals to amass treacherously close to Ukrainian positions and then attack.
Given those realities, the slow U.S. response is shameful.
President Biden has been trying since late last year to convince Republicans in Congress to support more U.S. aid. GOP leaders retorted back then that they wouldn’t do so until the American border was secured, effectively holding the time-sensitive Ukrainian issue hostage to action on immigration. The bipartisan border bill — by all accounts far more tilted to Republican priorities than traditional Democratic ones — called their bluff. A bluff indeed it turned out to be, thanks to Trump’s self-centered political calculations and congressional spinelessness.
Time’s up now. Now that they’ve declared action on the border dead for this session, Republicans ought to approve the $60 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, as well as the billions for aid to Israel and humanitarian efforts in the war-torn Gaza Strip that was part of the legislation. To refuse would be an abdication of basic responsibility to support American interests. We need Ukraine to prevail, simply to forestall future Russian expansion aims in the region, which could destabilize Europe — the source of two horrific world wars in the last century.
As we write, the Senate is considering a funding bill for Ukraine, Israel and other matters following failure in the chamber of the border legislation, which also addressed Ukraine and Israel.
There was a time — really not that long ago — when congressional support for a nation fighting Russian aggression would have been one of the easiest votes imaginable. Putin has made no secret of his ambitions to stitch something resembling the old USSR back together. Ukraine is by far the biggest prize in that quest. Stopping this ambition in its tracks is critical to future peace in the region.
It may sound quaint in this cynical age, but American democratic values also cry out for supporting the right of a people with their own language and culture to govern themselves and live in freedom.
Trump repositioned the GOP during his presidency to view Russia as more of a friend than a foe. How and why he did so remains something of a mystery, surely one for future historians to investigate.
There still are Republicans on Capitol Hill who view Russia appropriately, as at worst an enemy and at best a fierce rival that frequently holds interests antithetical to ours. Until Putin gives up his dreams of Ukrainian conquest, Russia is an enemy. Full stop.
On this issue, those GOP voices, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, must prevail within their ranks over the Trumpian wing that has sowed so much chaos within the Capitol. The stakes are too high for an immigration reprise.