Zelensky faces a more splintered GOP as he returns looking for aid

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will return to Capitol Hill Thursday for his second visit since his country was besieged by Russia. Only this time, the political landscape has shifted, CNN reports.

A year ago, Zelensky faced a much different reception in Congress. Democrats controlled the House and public support for funding the war effort in Ukraine was higher. As he stood to ask for more money and weapons before a joint meeting of Congress Zelensky was met with a packed House, members adorned in yellow and blue standing in support with Ukraine. Now, the Ukrainian president will return to Congress to a new speaker – facing a rebellion on his right – who has yet to promise future aid to Ukraine and will have to balance his own political future against the future Zelensky is hoping for his country.

President Joe Biden is set to welcome Zelensky to the White House also on Thursday. Biden is seeking to hear a “battlefield perspective” from Zelensky as a second autumn of war approaches, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told reporters.

Biden is expected to talk to Zelensky about battlefield needs, Kirby said, but it comes amid CNN reporting that ATACMS, the long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems, may not be part of a new weapons package, something Zelensky suggested to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer would be a disappointment. ATACMS are “not off the table,” Kirby said.

Zelensky’s visit is coming as House Republicans are engaged in a bitter fight over government funding on the domestic front and as the prospects for more money for Ukraine – while very much alive in the Senate – are far less clear in the House even as the Biden administration as sent over a request for $24 billion in support.

Zelensky will meet Thursday with leaders in the US House of Representatives including McCarthy, but the speaker has said that no one-on-one meeting is planned nor will Zelensky have a chance to meet with the GOP conference where he could speak directly to the members opposed to funding his war effort.

Despite a slip in public support, there is still strong bipartisan backing for Ukraine funding on Capitol Hill, but it will be up to McCarthy to decide if legislation will even be put on the floor. The speaker has said he doesn’t want funding attached to a short-term spending bill and he’s also said it should be a standalone issue. But time is of the essence, with aides close to the matter telling CNN the expectation is that current US funding accounts for Ukraine could be depleted as soon as by the end of the year.

Shifting public support makes Ukraine funding risky
Inside McCarthy’s conference, the question of helping Ukraine is being framed by isolationists as a choice between helping Americans or helping Ukraine.

A CNN poll in August found now a majority of Americans are opposed to authorizing more funding for Ukraine, and among Republicans, the number opposed soars to 71%. It’s a reality reflected in how Republican members – even those who don’t rule out more funding – talk about US support for Ukraine.

One of the most difficult balances Zelensky will face on Capitol Hill on Thursday is acknowledging why he needs the US aid, why it hasn’t been enough so far and how long he thinks he will actually be relying on the support as public fatigue over the war effort looms.

There is still a strong coalition of GOP support for Ukraine funding on Capitol Hill, such as McConnell, but Republicans have at times been critical of how the president has engaged in the war and how he has sold the US aid. Those GOP lawmakers argue Biden could do more to both sell the importance of the war effort to the public and to ensure members of Congress are kept in the loop on where and what impact the funding they are appropriating is having.