On Ukraine, Congress rediscovers bipartisan spirit – for now

With the security crisis in Europe suddenly eclipsing the bitter domestic policy battles of the past year, Washington lawmakers are flexing a muscle that some feared had completely atrophied: bipartisan unity.

Congress has moved swiftly to authorize weapons transfers to Ukraine and is scrambling to authorize additional military and humanitarian assistance before a March 11 budget deadline. Anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles funded by Congress have been crucial in enabling Ukrainian forces to slow Russia’s invasion.

“It’s no secret they need more help ... they need it yesterday,” said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut Monday night after meeting with Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova. “This is a moment for us to put aside our differences.”

During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last night, Republicans rose en masse with their Democratic colleagues in multiple standing ovations for Ukraine, with the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag splashed across ties, scarves, lapel pins, and flags. Just minutes into the speech, the whole chamber rose in fervent applause for Ambassador Markarova, expressing support for her country’s determination in fighting back against a much better equipped invading army.

“We the United States of America stand with the Ukrainian people,” said Mr. Biden, whose administration has levied sanctions on Russian oligarchs and cut off some Russian banks from the international SWIFT system, while green-lighting weapons deliveries to the Ukrainian military and seeking an additional $6.4 billion from Congress for additional weapons and humanitarian assistance. “We are inflicting pain on Russia and supporting the people of Ukraine.”

Major foreign policy crises like this one typically generate a “rally ’round the flag” effect, even in a body as divided as Congress. Still, this isn’t the return of 9/11. The rallying is around Ukraine more than Mr. Biden. In the coming days, the depth and breadth of that bipartisan unity will likely be tested as Russian troops continue their advance, forcing the president to translate the lofty ideals of Tuesday night’s speech into concrete actions that will almost certainly come with mounting tradeoffs.

Already, Republicans are criticizing the administration’s climate change policies as clashing with a need for energy independence. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats and territorial ambitions could also compel tough decisions about how to deploy U.S. military and other resources.

And notably, even as GOP leaders have offered strong support for the Biden administration’s moves to assist Ukraine, they haven’t refrained from criticizing the “weakness” they say precipitated the crisis. Democrats, for their part, say the real weakness came during the Trump years. The former president threatened to withdraw from NATO if members didn’t pay their dues and held up $391 million in military funding for Ukraine that had been approved by Congress. Mr. Trump later transferred the funds but was impeached for “corruptly soliciting” Ukraine to investigate his opponent, Mr. Biden.

For now, however, both sides seem committed to presenting a united front. During the roughly hour-long speech, there were only a few jeers from Republicans. To be sure, they stayed seated during bursts of Democratic applause for proposals to address issues like high prescription drug costs and corporate tax evasion. But even his staunchest critics stood to cheer lines about keeping schools open, appointing a chief of pandemic fraud, securing the border, and funding – not defunding – the police.

The Kremlin has long sought to amplify and exploit U.S. partisan divides, weakening trust in government and democratic systems. Analysts say the increasing vitriol between Democrats and Republicans has played into Mr. Putin’s hands as he sought to discredit American democracy and challenge the global order it spearheaded after World War II.

Asked if he thought members of Congress put on a convincing show of American unity last night, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, whose state is home to one of the country’s largest Ukrainian populations, responded in the affirmative.

“Yes, I do, I really do,” said the Republican co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus. “The response was encouraging.”

“We’re really coming together”

Dressed in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana stepped up to the microphone Tuesday to answer a reporter’s question about her grandmother back in Ukraine.

“My grandma is 95, she experienced Stalin, she experienced Hitler,” said the native-born Ukrainian, after an emotional speech calling on President Biden to take stronger action. “But, she says, she has never experienced something like that, ever.”

Hours before President Biden was scheduled to give his prime-time address, Ms. Spartz and her Republican colleagues criticized him in a press conference for everything from not heeding warnings about the need to build up Ukraine’s defenses to administration policies they say have contributed to inflation, including at the gas pump. 

Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, who also spoke, said in a follow-up hallway interview that it took months to transfer $200 million worth of weapons to Ukraine after the funding was approved. He’s headed to Poland this weekend to figure out how to get an additional $350 million worth of weapons into the country now that Russian troops have moved in, complicating the logistics.

“The time to have done this was before,” says Representative McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “The reality is, our foreign adversaries are emboldened, they’re empowered, and they sense weakness. And projecting weakness always invites aggression.”

Still, he too emphasized the importance of domestic unity in the face of such aggression.

“I think on my side of the aisle we’re really coming together on this,” he said ahead of Tuesday night’s speech. “I don’t want Putin to see a divided Congress because I think that weakens our strength.”

Divisions over energy policy

In the eyes of many Republicans, Mr. Biden’s hands are partly tied in this crisis by America’s dependence on foreign sources of energy – something they blame on the administration’s pivot away from domestic oil and gas production as part of its efforts to curb climate change. U.S. dependence on Russian oil imports has spiked over the past year. Meanwhile, the price of oil has gone from $60 a barrel to more $100. So far, U.S. sanctions on Russia do not apply to its energy sector, a key driver of its economy. 

“Putin is bankrolling his war effort because of American people who are paying $1 more a gallon for gas than they were when Biden came in office,” said GOP Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the top Republican on the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources committee.

Mr. Biden sought to assure Americans that he would do his best to limit the pain at the gas pump, announcing that his administration had worked with other countries to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves – a little under two weeks’ worth of Russian oil exports. The price of U.S. crude oil continued to rise after his announcement, hitting a 14-year peak of $116 before easing somewhat on Thursday amid hopes of a deal with Iran. 

Senator Barrasso and his GOP colleagues would like Mr. Biden to do more. In a letter Wednesday they urged the president to take immediate action on 10 points that would boost America’s energy independence and blunt Russia’s ability to hold other countries hostage to its oil and natural gas.  “Mr. President, America is the world’s energy superpower,” they wrote. “It is time we started acting like it again.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said at a press conference that there was bipartisan support for a host of measures, including sanctions, weapons, fuel, and uniforms. “There is no bipartisanship on the energy side,” he added, urging the president to sanction Russia’s oil and gas industry, calling it Mr. Putin’s Achilles heel. “Never in the history of warfare have we had a chance to deliver such a decisive blow without firing a shot. Let’s deliver that blow.”

On Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly passed a resolution, 426-3, supporting the people of Ukraine and calling for an immediate Russian withdrawal. “The gravity of this moment calls for Congress to speak with one voice,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in a statement.

Meanwhile in the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promised to move forward with a bipartisan military and aid package.

“Nothing would make Putin happier than having Democrats and Republicans divided,” he said.

Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect the announced release of strategic oil reserves and the trend in U.S. crude oil prices.