President Biden had requested the U.S. Congress for “emergency supplemental funding” for some key national security priorities including funding for Ukraine and Israel and for humanitarian assistance. The request from the Biden Administration was “…to address the global humanitarian impact of the Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and of Hamas’s horrific attack on Israel, including by extending humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.”[i] However, the U.S. Congress has blocked the request with Republican Senators voting against the Bill. With little hope that the differences over the Bill be resolved before the holiday season, the Biden Administration has warned that the decision would adversely affect Ukraine’s abilities to defend itself and would increase the likelihood of Russian gains.
U.S. Domestic Politics Overtaking Foreign Policy
While there continues to be bipartisan support for Ukraine, this support is waving. According to a Gallup poll (November 2023), “41 percent of Americans say the U.S. is doing too much, which has risen from 24 percent in August 2022 and 29 percent in June 2023. Thirty-three percent, down from 43 percent in June, say the U.S. is doing the right amount, while 25 percent believe the U.S. is not doing enough. There is a clear partisan divide with 62 percent of Republicans believing that the U.S. is doing too much.”[ii] What has caused the debate on party lines is the discontent with the fact that while the European partners have assisted in the war effort in Ukraine, the U.S. has provided the majority share of support, which has become a political topic of debate with many Congressional leaders calling for limits on the funds being committed to Kyiv.
The issue has come to play an important role in U.S. domestic political divide. For example, in October 2023, the U.S. avoided a federal shutdown after both House and the Senate agreed to a short-term funding deal. What is notable is that the Funding Bill omitted aid to Ukraine. The same was repeated in the November 2023 Temporary Spending Bill. The current impasse is another example of the partisan division.
The Republicans have expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that fund for border security measure and spending cuts were not included in the Bill presented by the White House. While the Bill does include some provisions for border security, the Republican’s demand has been for additional changes to asylum rules to manage the flow of migrants from the southern border. This domestic issue has complicated the debate on a foreign policy related matter.
The Immigration Issue
With the U.S. gearing up for the presidential elections next year, the inflow of migrants has become a topic of debate. Unlawful border crossings have spiked in recent years, and migrants arrive in cities that are already stretched to their limits in trying to provide shelter and jobs to them. Republican lawmakers have accused the Democrats of facilitating “open borders,” and the Republican Governors of Florida and Texas have spent millions of dollars to bus migrants and asylum seekers to Democrat-led northern cities, including Washington, DC, as part of their political-messaging.[iii] The debate over immigration has shifted from finding humane methods to address undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S. to stopping more from coming in. The Republicans have been demanding more stringent policies on border security and immigration with the issue being raised in the presidential debates among the Republican Party candidates.
President Biden is facing pressure from within his party as well. Strained by the influx of migrants, Democrat Party mayors and governors have blamed the White House for not doing enough to ease the burden. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker sent a letter to President Biden in October 2023 warning of a migrant “crisis” in his state and faulting the administration for a lack of “intervention and coordination at the border.” New York City Council members have also travelled to Washington, DC, about the crisis that has led migrants to live on the streets of the city.[iv] Opinion polls show growing frustration among many demographic groups, including those that support the Democrats, about the influx of migrants. A poll by Gallup in July 2023 found that “ two-thirds of Americans consider immigration a good thing for the country, while 27 percent consider it a bad thing. The percentage calling it a good thing is down from its peak of 77 percent in 2020 and is the lowest Gallup has recorded since 2014 (when it was 63 percent).”[v]
There is a growing consensus among lawmakers and border security officials that immigration policies need to be changed. President Biden has presented to the U.S. Congress an Immigration Bill in January 2021. The Bill was “to provide an earned path to citizenship, to address the root causes of migration and responsibly manage the southern border, and to reform the immigrant visa system, and for other purposes.”[vi] However, the Bill generated debate on specific policy details on pathways to citizenship, visa reforms, border security and the economic impact of policies on jobs and wages and the possible security risk that may arise due to certain provisions within the Bill. Due to the opposition it faced, the Bill has not moved forward.
Conclusion
President Biden finds his foreign policy commitments getting tied to domestic policy issues. Immigration has become a mainstream but sensitive issue among the voters. The Republican Party has embraced the idea of a tough stand on illegal migration. However, the issue has exposed the fissures in the Democratic Party, which was united against a hard stand on immigration in the past. For the Democrats the lack of clarity on the issue is becoming a political liability. With support for Ukraine faltering and primaries for 2024 presidential elections beginning in a few weeks, the Democrats need to find a clear strategy on how to navigate the different foreign policy and domestic concerns through the U.S. Congress and the general public.
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*Dr. Stuti Banerjee, Senior Research Fellow, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.
Disclaimer: The views expressed are personal.
Endnotes
[i] Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, “Letter Regarding Critical National Security Funding Needs for FY 2024,” 20 October 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2023/10/20/letter-regarding-critical-national-security-funding-needs-for-fy-2024/, Accessed on 07 December 2023.
[ii] Mohamed Younis, “American Views on the Ukraine War in 6 Charts,” Gallup, 03 November 2023, https://news.gallup.com/poll/513680/american-views-ukraine-war-charts.aspx, Accessed on 07 December 2023
[iii] Will Freeman, “Why New York is Experiencing a Migrant Crisis,” 05 October 2023, https://www.cfr.org/article/why-new-york-experiencing-migrant-crisis , Council on Foreign Relations, Accessed on 07 December 2023
[iv] Peter Nicholas, Mike Memoli and Julia Ainsley, “No good answers for Biden as voters recoil over border crossings,” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/biden-immigration-border-plan-voters-senate-negotiations-rcna125151, Accessed on 07 December 2023
[v] Lydia Saad, “Americans Still Value Immigration, but Have Concerns,” Gallup, July 2023, https://news.gallup.com/poll/508520/americans-value-immigration-concerns.aspx, Accessed on 08 December 2023
[vi] U.S. Congress, “H.R.1177 - U.S. Citizenship Act,” https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1177/text, Accessed on 08 December 2023