During an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that the spending package pushed by the White House ties border money to Ukraine and the Russian invasion of the country that “is a violation of longstanding international rules and norms, those rules and norms being the importance of protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity,” but complained that Republicans are holding Ukraine money “hostage” by trying to tie border policy changes that “on the merit, are not connected.”
Harris began by saying, “From the beginning, let’s be clear, when this happened on February 24 of that year, what we saw is a violation of longstanding international rules and norms, those rules and norms being the importance of protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity, the importance of standing up against any nation forcibly trying to change borders.”
Harris then stated that the package pushed by the Biden administration “includes assistance for Ukraine to see through the commitment we made to important principles, it includes assistance to Israel, to what we need to do in terms of assistance to Taiwan, and then, of course, more resources going to the border.”
She added, “If you want to debate border policy, let’s do that. The first bill that Joe Biden and I offered right after our inauguration was on immigration, knowing that we have a broken system that needs to be fixed, first bill, Lawrence. Do you think they’ve taken it up? No. There was a time in this town, in Washington, D.C., where President Bush, John McCain, even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) agreed this should be bipartisan, let’s fix this thing. But instead, they’re playing political games for the sake of trying to create some sense that there are no solutions other than holding hostage aid to our allies who desperately need America’s assistance. These issues, on the merit, are not connected. And it is important, especially as the clock is ticking on Ukraine, President Zelensky was just here, they need support. So, let’s step up and give it to them. Let’s have a robust debate on immigration, but don’t hold the issue hostage. State where you are, let’s work it out. We have offered a plan. So, I think that it’s very unfortunate, but it actually is more than just unfortunate, it will have real consequence[s] for these folks to play these kinds of games with who we are as America in terms of our role of global leadership. It will have consequence[s].”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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