In January, Congress is going to continue working on a possible bill that includes Ukraine aid and some kind of immigration policy changes Republicans are demanding.
>Chuck Schumer sees a major threat to the fate of any future deal to pair stricter border policy with billions of dollars in foreign aid: Donald Trump.
The Senate majority leader made clear in a Wednesday interview with POLITICO that he’s counting on the ideological middle of the GOP to save President Joe Biden’s national security spending package — not just from conservative pressures, but from Trump’s scorn. Schumer said he expects roughly five Senate Republicans to vote for a deal no matter what, 15 to vote against it no matter what, and that the rest could all be swayed by Trump as the presidential primary formally kicks off next month.
So Schumer thinks there are some Republicans who could go either way — they may vote for this (not-yet-existent) bill, or they may not, if Trump tries hard to convince Republicans to vote against it.
>“Their broad middle has a dilemma. They know it’s the right thing to do, to [pass aid for] Ukraine. And they know we have to do something on border. And we’re willing to meet them a decent part of the way,” Schumer said. “But they also have the specter of Donald Trump.”
My thoughts are that unless Democrats give Republicans everything they want on immigration, Trump and other Republicans can complain that the bill isn’t good enough and therefore shouldn’t pass. So I think Dems should give Republicans everything they want (even though I don’t like it), but double the amount of Ukraine aid. This way, Trump/Republicans are less likely to argue against the bill — they won’t have the “this bill isn’t good enough” argument. If they argued against this hypothetical bill, then they’d just be directly arguing against Ukraine aid at that point, while also delaying the immigration policies they asked for. Probably a lot of people in the public, on both sides, will think that’s a silly thing to do.
Or here’s another idea…
>A number of other Democrats are upset that border policy changes are on the table at all.
Right, that’s the other direction Democrats can go in. They can reject Republicans’ insistence that Ukraine aid be attached to immigration policies. Separate the issues into different bills. So far, that hasn’t happened, but maybe it could happen if Democrats really pushed it.
I don’t really know what the best solution is here but Ukraine can’t wait around forever for the US to help out. Something needs to be done soon.
Everybody’s favorite Boogeyman . .
Trump will tell Europe to fuck itself unless it pays up the wazoo. Everything with him is transactional.
Is there any doubt Trump’s going to do whatever benefits Putin?
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In January, Congress is going to continue working on a possible bill that includes Ukraine aid and some kind of immigration policy changes Republicans are demanding.
>Chuck Schumer sees a major threat to the fate of any future deal to pair stricter border policy with billions of dollars in foreign aid: Donald Trump.
The Senate majority leader made clear in a Wednesday interview with POLITICO that he’s counting on the ideological middle of the GOP to save President Joe Biden’s national security spending package — not just from conservative pressures, but from Trump’s scorn. Schumer said he expects roughly five Senate Republicans to vote for a deal no matter what, 15 to vote against it no matter what, and that the rest could all be swayed by Trump as the presidential primary formally kicks off next month.
So Schumer thinks there are some Republicans who could go either way — they may vote for this (not-yet-existent) bill, or they may not, if Trump tries hard to convince Republicans to vote against it.
>“Their broad middle has a dilemma. They know it’s the right thing to do, to [pass aid for] Ukraine. And they know we have to do something on border. And we’re willing to meet them a decent part of the way,” Schumer said. “But they also have the specter of Donald Trump.”
My thoughts are that unless Democrats give Republicans everything they want on immigration, Trump and other Republicans can complain that the bill isn’t good enough and therefore shouldn’t pass. So I think Dems should give Republicans everything they want (even though I don’t like it), but double the amount of Ukraine aid. This way, Trump/Republicans are less likely to argue against the bill — they won’t have the “this bill isn’t good enough” argument. If they argued against this hypothetical bill, then they’d just be directly arguing against Ukraine aid at that point, while also delaying the immigration policies they asked for. Probably a lot of people in the public, on both sides, will think that’s a silly thing to do.
Or here’s another idea…
>A number of other Democrats are upset that border policy changes are on the table at all.
Right, that’s the other direction Democrats can go in. They can reject Republicans’ insistence that Ukraine aid be attached to immigration policies. Separate the issues into different bills. So far, that hasn’t happened, but maybe it could happen if Democrats really pushed it.
I don’t really know what the best solution is here but Ukraine can’t wait around forever for the US to help out. Something needs to be done soon.
Everybody’s favorite Boogeyman . .
Trump will tell Europe to fuck itself unless it pays up the wazoo. Everything with him is transactional.
Is there any doubt Trump’s going to do whatever benefits Putin?