Lawmaker pressure on Biden hits its limits

[mystery-ak]

Lawmaker pressure on Biden hits its limits
By Cristina Marcos and Mike Lillis - 03/14/22 06:42 PM EDT

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have repeatedly been steps ahead of the Biden administration in calling to escalate the U.S. response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — proposals the White House ultimately adopted.

But they may be about to meet the fruit-bearing limits of their pressure campaigns.

The House is set to vote this week on legislation to revoke Russia’s normal trade status, just days after approving a ban on Russian oil imports, which the Biden administration had initially resisted.


And Biden is set to sign a massive government funding package that includes $13.6 billion in humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine — a number that ballooned from the administration’s initial $6.4 billion request a few weeks ago.

But the number of tools available to the administration is quickly dwindling, and the list of strategies lawmakers are now advocating include several tactics — no-fly zones, direct delivery of weapons and aid — that Biden has ruled out in no uncertain terms.

Those administrative red lines have highlighted the complexities of confronting a global nuclear power controlled by an unpredictable leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who’s had imperial designs on Ukraine stretching back decades and doesn’t appear to be dissuaded by the global backlash against him.

They’ve also illustrated the limits of Congress in guiding America’s role in the Ukrainian defense effort, even as voter sentiment around the country is putting ever more pressure on Washington policymakers to intervene more aggressively.

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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/598174-lawmaker-pressure-on-biden-hits-its-limits

[christian]

Democrats are addicted to spending American money on foreigners, on needy poverty Americans, certainly not so much.

[mountaineer]

Democrats are addicted to spending American money on foreigners, on needy poverty Americans, certainly not so much.

True. We should stop sending money to ungrateful and corrupt foreign nations when our own national debt is so huge.

[Right_in_Virginia]

True. We should stop sending money to ungrateful and corrupt foreign nations when our own national debt is so huge.

And especially when there is no national interest at risk.

[mountaineer]

And especially when there is no national interest at risk.

That, too.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Putin wants a war with the West.

We  can either confront in Ukraine, now, with his pants around his ankles, or ...
we can wait until Russia is better prepared, Russia has time to steal more US secrets, and the Dems, UN, and Global Climate Change enviro-commies have a few years to weaken the US further.

Putin certainly seems overly impatient.  Did he recently get diagnosed with a terminal disease and wants to leave no unfinished business before he become President of Hell?