Republicans block Ukraine funding over US-Mexico border despite Biden pleas

Republican senators in the United States have blocked $106bn in new funding for Ukraine and Israel, rejecting appeals from President Joe Biden amid anger over the exclusion of immigration reforms they had demanded as part of the package.

Biden had earlier warned of dire consequences for Kyiv – and a “gift” to Russia’s Vladimir Putin – if Congress failed to pass the measure, which includes about $61bn to help Ukraine keep up pressure on Russia during the freezing winter months, as well as help for Israel and Gaza.

“They’re willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process,” Biden said.

The entire 49-strong Republican minority in the upper chamber voted against the proposal, pointing to a lack of government action on the estimated 10,000 migrants crossing from Mexico into the US every day.

“Everyone has been very, very clear on this to say we’re standing firm. Now is the moment,” Senator James Lankford, a lead Republican negotiator on immigration and border issues, told Fox Business ahead of the vote.

“We’re completely out of control at the southern border, and it’s time to resolve this.”

Citing aid for Israel, independent senator Bernie Sanders also voted against the bill, which needed 60 votes to pass.

Biden has earlier pleaded with Republicans over the package, warning that a victory for Russia over Ukraine would leave Moscow in a position to attack NATO allies and draw US troops into a war.

“If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there,” Biden said. Putin will attack a NATO ally, he predicted, and then “we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops”, Biden said.

“We can’t let Putin win,” he said.

Border security with Mexico has emerged as a major stumbling block to continued support for Ukraine, even as the White House warned this week that funds designated for providing aid to Ukraine would run out by the end of the year.

House and Senate Republicans are backing renewed construction of a border wall, former President Donald Trump’s signature policy, while deeming large numbers of migrants ineligible for asylum and reviving a controversial policy under which asylum seekers are told to remain in Mexico while their immigration case is heard.

Biden said he was willing to make “significant” compromises on the border issue but said Republicans would not get everything they wanted. He did not provide details.