Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Thursday the recent failure of Congress to pass a new round of aid to Ukraine is \u201ca tremendous gift\u201d to Russian President Vladimir Putin. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou know who is going to have the best Christmas imaginable? Vladimir Putin,\u201d the Virginia senator posted to his account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. \u201cOur failure to renew aid to Ukraine is a tremendous gift to him. We must get it done next year.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Senate adjourned Wednesday without a deal on funding for Ukraine or border security, ending a historically unproductive legislative session. Its members are not scheduled to come back until early January. <\/p>\n
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) attributed the absence of achievements to the influence of former President Trump on the Republican-majority House. <\/p>\n
\u201cUnder a Republican House majority this year, we saw a year marked by chaos, extremism and paralysis. There\u2019s no question that divided government and MAGA extremism made legislating in 2023 very difficult,\u201d Schumer said in floor remarks. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor much of the year it was as if Donald Trump himself were running the show over in the House, making it exceedingly hard to get anything done,\u201d he lamented.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted that it would be \u201cpractically impossible\u201d to pass military aid to Ukraine before Christmas, even though negotiations on a supplemental spending package were ongoing. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll I have said is [it\u2019s] practically impossible, even though we reach an agreement, to craft it, get it through the Senate, get it through the House before Christmas,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cDoesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not important.\u201d <\/p>\n
Republican senators have insisted on major immigration policy changes in exchange for supporting President Biden\u2019s $60 billion spending request for Ukraine. So far Democrats have rejected the GOP demands as too extreme. <\/p>\n
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Sen. Warner: Congressional failure to pass Ukraine aid tremendous gift to Putin - The Hill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Thursday the recent failure of Congress to pass a new round of aid to Ukraine is \u201ca tremendous gift\u201d to Russian President Vladimir Putin Continue reading