Graham says Ukraine aid will not be separated from border funding

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday he expects Ukraine aid will not be separated from border funding as Congress tries to figure out a path forward after a shutdown bill left Ukraine out.

“To those who say we need to fix our border, you’re right,” Graham said on CBS News’s “Face The Nation.” “To those who say we need to help Ukraine, you’re right. To those who say we need to do the border, not Ukraine, you’re wrong.”

Graham said he believes Ukraine aid will not be a “standalone” bill and that the “vast majority” of Senate Republicans would support a combination of border security, Ukraine funding and disaster aid.

“We got to fix asylum, we need border security agent increases, we need more detention beds,” Graham said. “I think there’s Democratic support for major border security reform, but we have to attach it to Ukraine to those who say we need to fix our border.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Saturday offered a bill to keep the government open that did not include funding for Ukraine, despite the fact that similar legislation in the Senate with Ukraine aid was moving forward.

McCarthy had argued Ukraine aid should not be part of a stopgap measure, and a number of Republicans in the House oppose it.

The Senate ended up agreeing to the House-approved move, even though some said the lack of support for Ukraine was essentially a victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In an interview minutes earlier on CBS News, McCarthy said he is committed to helping Ukraine, but that addressing the crisis at the border is a bigger priority. When asked if he would link Ukraine aid to a border bill vote, McCarthy said the American border “matters.”

“[McCarthy] worked to avoid a shutdown, he will help Ukraine, but he’s telling everybody in the country, including me, ‘You better send something over the border for me to help Ukraine,’ and he’s right to make that demand,” Graham said.

The South Carolina Republican said the Senate will have a “strong” border security measure while pushing for up to $60 or $70 billion in Ukraine funding for the next year, a far higher payout than the White House’s request of $24 billion.

Pressed over the large supplemental request, Graham said it’s “because we need it.”

“We haven’t lost one soldier in the Ukraine war, spent less than 5 percent of our military budget. Fifty percent of the Russian army has been destroyed by the Ukrainians, so they would be at Crimea already if the administration hadn’t been so slow and given weapons,” Graham said.