According to the "Reference News", citing AFP on February 5**, after months of fierce debate, US senators reached an agreement on migration and assistance to Ukraine on the 4th. It is reported that the total amount of funds involved in the bill is 118.3 billion US dollars, of which 60 billion US dollars will be used to aid Ukraine and 14.1 billion US dollars will be used to aid Israel. In addition, the bill provides a $20.2 billion budget for immigration policy reform, in particular stricter restrictions on the asylum processing system.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. Visual China data map.
However, despite Biden's call for Congress to "pass the bill as soon as possible", Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson immediately stepped in to "pour cold water". Johnson said the bill was "worse than expected" and "a long way off" from ending the border disaster Biden created. Johnson also promised to be "stillborn" when the bill needs to be approved by the House of Representatives.
It is reported that for the bill to pass, it must first be approved by the Senate and then by the House of Representatives. However, the Republican-majority House of Representatives plans to vote only on U.S. security assistance to Israel, but does not support aid to Ukraine, and ties Biden**'s immigration policy to aid to Ukraine. This also means that Biden's efforts to secure a new round of aid to Ukraine will still face difficulties, and the last round of US aid to Ukraine has been exhausted by the end of 2023.
Biden said in a statement on the 4th: "I know we have domestic differences, but we can't let partisan politics prevent us from fulfilling our responsibilities as a great nation." However, Chris Krueger, a market analyst at financial institution Cowen, analyzed that during the U.S. primary, especially when Trump is about to become the de facto candidate of the Republican Party, it is difficult for aid to Ukraine to pass in the House of Representatives.
Recently, a fierce conflict has erupted between the local and federal governments in Texas over how to resolve the immigration crisis. On January 22, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a request by Biden** to allow Border Patrol to remove part of the barbed wire fence along the Texas border that was used to deter illegal immigration. To prevent the barbed wire fence from being dismantled, Texas Governor Abbott launched a series of operations code-named Operation Lone Star, mobilizing the local National Guard to continue building and reinforcing the barbed wire fence and engaging in armed standoffs with federal law enforcement officers. In the confrontation between Texas and the Federation, Texas received support from 25 Republican governors across the United States.
In addition, Trump also recently expressed solidarity with Texas, saying that if he was **, he would use all the powers of the United States ** to protect the "terrible invasion" that is currently taking place in the United States, and Texas would receive "full support". He said on social media that the United States needs a "strong, strong, perfect border" and that unless it can be done, it is better not to reach any agreement, even if it will temporarily "shut down" the United States for a while.
Some analysts believe that Trump wants to make the immigration issue the core content of his attack on Biden in the 2024 ** election, so he opposes a compromise on this issue, and Trump's dominance in this year's Republican primary has also strengthened his influence within the Republican Party, which will make it more difficult for the two parties to reach an agreement on aid to Ukraine.
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