在美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)周三呼吁国会紧急批准陷入停滞的乌克兰一揽子援助计划几个小时后，共和党人阻止了参议院一项关键的程序性投票要求加强美国边境安全的新限制。
拜登称，国会花了很长时间才通过他为乌克兰提供610亿美元额外资金的请求，这令人“震惊”，他发出了一个严厉的警告，如果更多资金得不到批准，可能会发生什么。他说，如果美国现在结束其全球领导地位，共和党人将给予俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京“他所希望的最大礼物”。
“国会必须维护美国的国家安全需要，坦率地说，也是我们合作伙伴的国家安全需要，”拜登在白宫发言时说。
“这不能等，”他说，立法者必须在假期休会前采取行动，资金将在年底耗尽。
他说:“国会中的共和党人愿意给(俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京)他所希望的最好礼物，放弃我们的全球领导地位，不仅仅是乌克兰，而是更远的地方。”。
“毫无疑问，今天的投票将会被长久铭记。历史将会对那些背弃自由事业的人做出严厉的判决——因为我们不能让普京获胜。再说一遍。我们不能让普京赢，”他说。
但是拜登的呼吁没有起到任何作用，因为推动这项措施的投票以49比51失败。它需要60票才能晋级。
参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默称之为“我们国家历史上悲伤的一夜”
拜登提醒美国人俄罗斯据称迄今为止实施的暴行，包括针对平民的袭击、绑架儿童以及去年冬天袭击他们的电网，使他们没有暖气和电力。
他说，这不仅仅是近期可能发生的事情，而是长期的事情。拜登警告说，如果普京接管乌克兰并入侵北约盟国，美国军队可能会加入战斗，这将触发第五条，即对北约一个成员国的攻击被视为对所有成员国的攻击。
“如果普京攻击一个北约盟友，如果他继续下去，然后他攻击一个北约盟友，当我们作为北约成员承诺，所以我们保卫北约的每一寸土地，那么我们将有我们不寻求和我们今天没有的东西:美国军队与俄罗斯军队作战。如果他进入北约的其他地区，美国军队将与俄罗斯军队作战。
总统说，“我不准备走开，我认为美国人民也不准备。”
在共和党要求将他所谓的极右边境政策包括在补充方案中的情况下，这一延迟出现了。拜登指责共和党人通过“将乌克兰的资金作为他们极端党派边境政策的人质”，来“玩弄我们的国家安全”。
他说，他“愿意做更多的事情”来改变边境政策，包括为边境特工、移民法官和庇护官员提供数十亿美元，但他说，共和党不愿意妥协。
“这必须是一场谈判。共和党人认为他们得到了他们想要的一切，没有任何两党妥协。这不是答案。这不是答案。现在他们真的愿意在战场上给乌克兰下跪。并在此过程中损害我们的国家安全。
拜登说，他已经与俄克拉荷马州共和党参议员詹姆斯·兰克福德和其他共和党参议员阐述了他愿意妥协的内容，称这是“明显更多”，包括“实质性的变化”，尽管他声称共和党“不愿意这样做”。
他呼吁国会“做一些事情，做正确的事情，与乌克兰人民站在一起。”
“我们是普京没有完全占领乌克兰并超越它的原因，”他说。“这很关键。狭隘的党派、愤怒的政治不能妨碍我们作为世界领先国家的责任。全世界都在看着。”
Senate Republicans reject Biden's call to urgently approve Ukraine aid
Hours after President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Congress to urgently approve a stalled package of aid to Ukraine, Republicans blocked a key Senate procedural vote overdemands for new restrictions to bolster U.S. border security.
Biden called it "stunning" that Congress has taken as long as it has to pass his request for $61 billion in additional funding for Ukraine, laying out a stark warning of what could happen if more funds are not approved, and saying Republicans will give Russian President Vladimir Putin "the greatest gift he could hope for" if the U.S. ends its global leadership now.
"The Congress has to uphold the national security needs of the United States and quite frankly, of our partners as well," Biden said, speaking from the White House.
"This cannot wait," he said, saying lawmakers had to act before the holiday recess and money runs out at the end of the year.
"Republicans in Congress are willing to give [Russian President Vladimir] Putin the greatest gift he could hope for, and abandon our global leadership, not just Ukraine, but beyond that," he said.
"Make no mistake, today's vote is going to be long remembered. History is going to judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom's cause -- because we can't let Putin win. Say it again. We can't let Putin win," he said.
But Biden's call did no good -- as a vote to move forward on the measure failed 49-51. It needed 60 votes to advance.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called it a "sad night in the history of our country."
Biden reminded Americans of the atrocities Russia has allegedly carried out so far, including the targeting of civilians, kidnapping of children and attacks on their electrical grid last winter so they'd be without heat and electricity.
He said this is more than just what could happen in the immediate future, but the long run. Biden warned of U.S. troops possibly joining the fight if Putin were to take over Ukraine and invade a NATO ally, which would trigger Article 5 in which an attack on one NATO member is consider an attack on all.
"If Putin attacks a NATO ally, if he keeps going, and then he attacks a NATO ally, when we've committed as a NATO member, so we defend every inch of NATO territory, then we'll have something that we don't seek and that we don't have today: American troops fighting Russian troops. American troops fighting Russian troops, if he moves into other parts of NATO," he said.
The president said, "I'm not prepared to walk away, and I don't think the American people are either."
The delay comes amid Republican demands for what he called far-right border policies to be included in the supplemental package. Biden accused Republicans of "playing chicken with our national security" by "holding Ukraine's funding hostage to their extreme partisan border policies."
He said he's "willing to do significantly more" to change border policy, including billions of dollars for border agents, immigration judges and asylum officers, but said the GOP is unwilling to compromise.
"This has to be a negotiation. Republicans think they get everything they want, without any bipartisan compromise. That's not the answer. That's not the answer. And now they're willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield. And damage our national security in the process," Biden said.
Biden said he's already laid out with Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford and other GOP senators what he's willing to compromise on, saying it's "significantly more," and includes "substantive changes," though claimed the GOP are "unwilling to do it."
He called on Congress to "do something and do the right thing to stand with the people in Ukraine."
"We're the reason Putin has not totally overrun Ukraine and move beyond that," he said. "This is critical. Petty partisan, angry politics can't get in the way of our responsibility as a leading nation in the world. And literally the entire world is watching."
