Biden the closer? Senate GOP urges president to clinch Ukraine-border deal

Congress is on the verge of leaving for the holidays without delivering further aid to Ukraine. And Senate Republicans are demanding that President Joe Biden insert himself forcefully into negotiations in order to salvage his top foreign policy priority.

“It’s his job to fix this,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is a party to the discussions. Senate negotiators “don’t matter, if he’s not on board,” Graham added. “He’s the commander in chief. I think we’re wasting our time.”

Republicans and a handful of Democrats say the laborious negotiations require that Biden, a 36-year Senate veteran, revive his longtime deal-maker reputation to clinch an agreement on his nearly $106 billion national security aid request. Graham said he personally told Biden as much earlier this fall, saying he “needs to be the deal closer.”

Biden’s track record as vice president and senator is certainly one of deal-cutter, particularly given his relationship with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Yet, as president, his administration has found success leaving the policymaking details to the legislative branch. Biden’s been burned by getting too close to heated Capitol talks.

The most famous stumble came when a trillion-dollar party-line social spending bill fell apart in 2021. Even so, a significant part of that effort got preserved in the Inflation Reduction Act after Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) fell short on a bigger agreement.

Biden was able to sign that smaller-scale party-line bill after employing a far lighter touch with lawmakers — one that might not work for a delicate negotiation that hinges on pairing stricter border policies with billions of dollars for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) agreed on Thursday to continue negotiating through the weekend. Republicans made a new offer to Democrats, and though there’s no deal in sight, they got close enough to at least bring Murphy back to the negotiating table after he balked over GOP demands.

But if senators can't finish the job, even the president’s top allies in the Capitol say Biden will need to take the lead.

“If they are not successful, then I would urge the president to get more directly involved,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.)

There’s real worry on Capitol Hill, however, that even presidential involvement might not be enough to save the negotiations. In particular, some senators fear that Biden would be set up to fail after Republicans voted unanimously earlier this week against the foreign aid request because it lacked border policy changes.

Not to mention the primary risk to Biden if he steps in: Republicans could blame him should everything fall apart — and increase their finger-pointing over a migration crisis they hammered him on for months.

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the bipartisan negotiations on the Hill “should be happening” but said the Republican Party is “not moving forward in good faith.”

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said that after the GOP’s filibuster he’s “wondering how important or urgent this is” for Republicans.

“It's hard not to be a little cynical about whether they really want a deal,” said Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.).

Not every Democrat wants the White House to cut a deal with the GOP, either.

Progressives and immigration advocates are frustrated that the White House is even encouraging negotiations over border policies, which they worry will result in virtually eliminating the U.S. asylum system.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including the four Latino Democratic senators, as well as Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), asked White House chief of staff Jeff Zients for a meeting on the border talks. The White House has not made Zients available, according to three people familiar with the request.

A White House official said the administration is currently getting updates only from the lawmakers at the negotiating table and providing technical assistance. The official didn’t rule out future engagement.

“I’m waiting to see if a meeting will come to pass but it’s not as though they’re not aware of our concerns,” Hirono said. She wants the administration to identify the “significant” border concessions that Biden on Wednesday said he would be willing to make.

Zients and other White House senior staff have been in regular touch with Lankford, according to a person familiar with the private conversations but not authorized to publicly discuss them. The conversations are not negotiations, the person stressed, with Zients leaving that to his Democratic colleagues on the Hill.

Rather, the chief of staff has been getting regular updates on the state of the negotiations from Lankford reiterating the importance of getting a deal done to help Ukraine. Zients has also held regular calls with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on the same issues, this person said.

In interviews, chief Senate negotiators said Biden’s top aides are involved to some degree. Lankford said the White House is mostly providing “technical assistance” even as it seeks a compromise. Murphy said senators are “in the driver’s seat, but the administration is in regular touch.”

There’s also an acute awareness among Biden aides of how thorny an issue the border is. Progressives fear the administration will go too far, accepting what resembles restrictive Trump-era immigration policies, while getting no Democratic immigration wins in return. Heading into an election year, many of those liberals are already furious with Biden for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war and the failures to deliver on other campaign promises.

However, many others in Biden’s inner circle believe something has to be done at the border, lest they lose independent and swing voters who have seen surging migration’s negative effects in many major U.S. cities.

The White House has publicly warned that it will run out of money for Ukraine by the end of the year, but some Pentagon officials are hopeful the funding could stretch a little further. Moreover, some senior administration officials believe the Presidential Drawdown Authority may free up some additional funds.

But even with a little wiggle room, the situation could soon grow dire with sweeping ramifications for the war, according to two senior officials not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions. There is growing fear in the White House that a break in U.S. funds would create a domino effect and other nations would also begin to pull back support.

In light of those concerns, Republicans say Biden needs to do more. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a top backer of Ukraine aid, said the lack of progress is “driving me nuts.”

“Where the heck is the White House, do they care about Israel and Ukraine?” Romney said. “It's up to [Biden]. Does he care about this? The people of the country expect the president to be the leader.”

Still, with a sharply divided Congress stumbling to finish all but its most essential work, Biden now has an opportunity to use his knowledge of the Senate as well as his foreign policy acumen to try for another bipartisan win.

And how he and his top aides handle the next few days could make all the difference in whether the Senate passes aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the border.

“He can get involved,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). “But Congress has to do the work.”