Graham, Warren, and Blumenthal make surprise visit to Ukraine | CPT PPP Coverage

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A bipartisan trio of senators made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Wednesday to reaffirm U.S. support for the country amid its invasion by Russia.

Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Volodymyr Zelensky and other top officials in Kyiv, where they received an update on Ukraine’s military efforts. The trio’s surprise trip, which comes on the eve of the country’s Independence Day, served as a demonstration of Ukraine’s bipartisan support in the Senate more than 18 months into Russia’s brutal invasion.

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“Ukraine needs F-16s with well-trained pilots immediately and longer-range artillery like ATACMS to capitalize on the steady gains of the Ukrainian counter-offensive,” Blumenthal said in a statement on the delegation. “It may be slow going and difficult, which we knew it would be, but it is solid, steady progress with a real prospect of significant breakthrough. This is a crucial moment.”

“The freedom of the Ukrainian people remains under extraordinary threat, and on the eve of Ukrainian National Independence Day, I am glad to speak firsthand with those on the ground in order to help Ukrainians in need and move President’s Biden’s request for additional Ukraine funding through Congress,” Warren said. “Ukrainians are on the frontlines in the battle for democracy and we must continue to support them.”

Graham, who noted that it was his fourth visit to Ukraine, praised the country’s handling of the Russian conflict.

“The weapons we have provided to the Ukrainians have been effectively used,” Graham said. “The combat power of the Russian Army has been reduced by fifty percent. All the while we have not lost one American soldier in Ukraine.”

The three were seen being greeted by Volodymyr Zelensky at the Capitol in a video posted by the Ukrainian president.

The trip comes as Congress faces the threat of a government shutdown and a broader dispute about defense spending levels when it returns in September.

The federal government runs out of money on Sept. 30, and the House and Senate each have only 12 in-session days between now and then to find a resolution in order to prevent a shutdown. Further complicating matters, House and Senate appropriators have spent months marking up government funding bills at different spending levels.

On the Senate side, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) and ranking member Susan Collins (R-ME) have been advancing the 12 annual appropriations bills using spending levels agreed upon as part of President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) deal to avert a debt default in May.

Senators across the ideological spectrum were furious over the defense caps in the deal, which would put the Pentagon out of step with the rate of inflation and harm their overall ability to allocate adequate resources where needed, including with regard to Ukraine.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pledged to bring a supplemental defense and Ukraine spending bill up for a vote later in the year to halt a potential mutiny from defense hawks, including Graham, threatening to tank the agreement.

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McCarthy’s mere four-vote majority in the House leaves him with little room for defections within his conference, though he already has upward of 20 members demanding appropriators write their 12 bills at fiscal 2022 spending levels, below the numbers in the debt limit deal. He has also rejected the notion of the House passing a defense supplemental, leaving its fate unclear.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday at the Capitol, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) speculated that a defense and Ukraine supplemental could be necessary as soon as September.