/ world today news/ The issue of allocating US funds to Ukraine for 2024 clashed with the issue of tightening the rules for crossing the American border, which the Republican Party insists on. CBS News reports that the matter has progressed.
A small bipartisan group of senators has been negotiating with the White House since December to see if they can reach a deal on tougher asylum and immigration laws that Republicans have demanded in exchange for backing US President Joe Biden’s request for billions of dollars in military spending. aid to Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine.
Senior White House officials earlier told Democrats in Congress that they would not accept Republican demands to limit parole for immigrants to stay in the United States.
But during a White House meeting on Friday, Biden advisers acknowledged that a border deal with Republicans would not be possible without the administration’s agreement to limit parole, people briefed on the talks told CBS News.
Passing restrictions on immigrant parole would be a significant concession for Republicans, as Biden has leaned heavily on the policy in recent years.
While little has been said publicly about the talks so far, the White House has been pushing internally for a deal on border policy in the Senate because of its desire to provide Ukraine with more military aid and reduce political pressure it faces due to the unprecedented number of migrants entering the US illegally , people familiar with the internal discussions said.
If the White House and Senate reach a compromise, it is unclear whether such a proposal would gain the necessary support in the Republican-led House of Representatives, where many conservative lawmakers support tougher asylum laws and generally oppose aid to Ukraine.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made aid to Ukraine contingent on resolving the US border issue.
The following are quotes from Mike Johnson’s Jan. 7 interview with CBS News:
SPEAKER JOHNSON: President Biden’s position disappoints us. This is disappointing for the American people and, of course, for President Trump. And I think that’s who he is, that’s what he articulates there.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But that’s why I asked you how to balance the humanity of this issue with national security and deal with both sides at the same time. We must act quickly.
Now you have access to the most sensitive national security information. How has that changed your worldview, especially with regard to Ukraine, where you say Vladimir Putin must be defeated?
SPEAKER JOHNSON: I have always said that Vladimir Putin must be defeated. I have never changed my position.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Marjorie Taylor Greene went public a few days ago and said, “He went from a record vote to just a month later going against his own principles.”
SPEAKER JOHNSON: No, I voted against releasing one of the tranches to Ukraine, but to send a message to the White House. This is not a lack of determination to defend freedom, to stand by the Ukrainian people.
We’ve always been consistent about that, but the House Republicans who voted against the last tranche of late-to-mid-summer funding, I think that vote was that way because we wanted to make it clear to the White House that they don’t have been transparent enough with the American people. How will the conflict in Ukraine end? What is our strategy? What is the purpose? How will we exercise proper oversight of these precious taxpayer dollars?
Of course, remembering that I just noted that we have $34 trillion in federal debt. This is a very serious matter: in order to send money to Ukraine to help with their conflict, we actually have to borrow it from somewhere else. So we say, let’s do this rationally. Of course we are for freedom, that is what the United States is all about. But we need accountability to the people who fund it.
The White House did not provide those answers. I begged them in writing, in public, in private, in every way to give us these answers, but they did not.
So without those answers, it’s very difficult for us to get the funding we need to do what needs to be done to stop Vladimir Putin.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So when you met with President Zelensky of Ukraine, you told him, “I just don’t know if I can give you cash.” I just don’t know if I can help to continue fighting this war?
SPEAKER JOHNSON: No no. That’s not what I told him. I said that we strongly support the Ukrainian people and your fight for freedom and against Vladimir Putin, who I believe is a ruthless dictator.
But what he said publicly, he said at our meeting, and then he said in the national media in an interview after our meeting, is that he could get additional funding as early as February.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think you will be able to secure the funding for Ukraine by February that you linked to the border?
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Two things are necessary: we must secure the US border before we can secure a foreign border.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think you can do all this by February?
SPEAKER JOHNSON: I think — I think if the White House and the Senate take this seriously and listen to the American people, remembering that this is 80 percent of the American people’s problem.
They understand the necessity of what we are talking about, we must insist on ensuring the security of our own country. And also, if we get the information we need and the answers we need as to what the — what the end goal is in Ukraine and how that’s going to happen, we’re going to be responsible for the — the expenditure of those resources. So far, the White House has not provided us with the necessary information.
Translation: SM
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