Could Ukraine aid fuel a government shutdown? Zelenskyy visits a bitterly divided Congress

WASHINGTON – As the country barrels towards a government shutdown and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy is slated to pitch lawmakers on continuing aid to the embattled nation, Congress remains bitterly divided over U.S. military and financial support for the country as it works to flesh out a government funding deal. 

President Joe Biden, who has pledged to continue supporting Ukraine for as long as the war against Russia takes, asked Congress in August for $24 billion in aid to the country. While the Senate has mostly agreed to include additional Ukraine aid in measures to keep the government funded, the money has a dimmer prospect of getting through the House, where GOP lawmakers remain skeptical of continued aid to the war effort. 

Two key factions among House Republicans crafted a short-term deal to keep the government funded for 30 days. The package – referred to as a continuing resolution – is noticeably missing Ukraine aid.

Senate leaders have insisted additional Ukraine support be included in a spending package, but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. has said he sees no need to commit to funding Ukraine.

“Is Zelenskyy elected to Congress? Is he our president? I don't think I have to commit anything  and I think I have questions for him. Where's the accountability on the money we've already spent?" McCarthy told ABC News Tuesday.

In a further display of the disparity between the two chambers, McCarthy does not plan to meet Zelenskyy one-on-one either when he comes to Washington, instead meeting with the Ukrainian president in a small bipartisan group of House lawmakers. Meanwhile, all senators have been invited to meet with Zelenskyy in a display of just how far apart the chambers are on the issue. 

And lawmakers from the upper chamber have started to criticize their colleagues in the House for their approach. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, told USA TODAY Monday he was disappointed the House’s stopgap bill provides no money for Ukraine.

“This is an example of where House Republicans stand on the security of Ukraine and upholding the international proposition of law that you can by force take another country's territory,” Menendez said. “I don’t understand what’s happened to them, they’ve lost their way.” 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., assailed House Republicans’ deal on the Senate floor Monday for leaving out aid to Ukraine ahead of Zelenskyy’s visit.

“With no Ukraine funding, the proposal is an insult to Ukraine and a gift to Putin. I cannot think of a worse welcome for President Zelenskyy, who visits us this week, than this House proposal which ignores Ukraine entirely,” Schumer said.

On the other side of the aisle in the Senate, Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., told USA TODAY Monday he thought U.S. aid to Ukraine should continue to be a priority for Congress. 

And one of the Senate’s most vocal supporters for the Ukraine war effort, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, said Congress will “eventually get money for Ukraine,” in some fashion, and he would support a separate supplemental bill as the war-torn nation fights off Russia's invasion. For House Republicans' part, Graham thought the stopgap bill was a "good deal."

Related:Biden makes impassioned plea at UN, warns world can't abandon Ukraine

Divisions over Ukraine aid still run deep in House GOP conference

The divide on Ukraine funding is apparent in the House as well. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, told USA TODAY Tuesday Ukraine aid is a “deal breaker” for him. 

Regardless, Fitzpatrick said he would vote for the House’s version of the continuing resolution since it won’t be the final product given the Senate’s objections to the stopgap measure. That final product however, must include Ukraine funding for him. 

“We have to support (Ukraine). We cannot abandon Ukraine, that would be a disaster,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’ll find a way to get Ukraine funding.” 

Disagreements range among those supportive of Ukraine aid in the House GOP conference. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told USA TODAY he thinks the war effort should be funded “in a responsible way” and that there are “better mechanisms for us to have that conversation about Ukraine," rather than a continuing resolution.

House conservatives contend that spending should be focused on domestic policy rather than support for Ukraine. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., chair of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, said Tuesday Democrats and Republicans alike are “appalled” at Russia’s war against Russia but that Congress should not write “blank checks.”

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., member of the Freedom Caucus and a key negotiator behind the continuing resolution, told reporters Monday it was “cool” Zelenskyy was visiting Capitol Hill, but he thought “the American people are sick and tired of their needs being neglected while we take care of the rest of the world.”