House members join call for Ukraine president to address Congress

A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Wednesday sent a letter to House leaders imploring them to invite Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to address a joint session of Congress next week.

“In the face of an existential threat from Russia, it is more important than ever that the United States and our NATO partners support Ukraine,” Reps. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) and Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) wrote in the letter.

“A joint session with President Poroshenko will show Congressional support for Ukraine while informing Congress of the best ways that we can support the U.S.-Ukraine relationship,” they said.

The missive comes two days after the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote a similar letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) asking him to invite Poroshenko to speak to lawmakers on Sept. 18.

The foreign leader will be in Washington to meet with President Obama at the White House.

The latest letter was released a day after the State Department said it had nearly finished putting together a fresh set of economic sanctions against Russia for its military incursions against Ukraine.