April 28, 2022

President Joe Biden’s behemoth request for urgent aid to Ukraine finally reached Capitol Hill on Thursday. It’s already mired in legislative quicksand.

The president’s $33 billion ask, which includes more than $20 billion for military assistance, is expected to win widespread bipartisan support. But significant obstacles to getting the aid package to Biden’s desk post-haste have already cropped up.

Biden’s latest Ukraine request comes as Republicans are shrugging off Democrats’ efforts to combine the new Ukraine assistance with a cross-aisle agreement on Covid relief funding. And as part of the virus funding fight, GOP senators are threatening to force difficult votes on the Biden administration’s divisive decision to end pandemic-era curbs on immigration at the southern border, pressing an issue that Democrats are lamenting that the White House has mishandled.

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