Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., right, and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., left. Susan Walsh/AP
Why It's So Hard For Congress to Act on Ukraine
A major point of contention has been whether to include International Monetary Fund reforms in a future Senate bill.
A race against the clock is taking place in Washington this week as Congress tries to pass a legislative package on Ukraine before recess begins on Friday. But a number of controversies — whether to send aid, whether to punish Russia, concerned American businesses, potential fracking amendments — threaten to stall Senate action for even longer.
In the first congressional response to the crisis last week, a Ukraine aid package was passed in the House with a vote of 385 to 23, but now the Senate must decide their next steps. The House bill, H.R. 4152, provides $1 billion in loan guarantees to the new Ukrainian government. While several lawmakers have spoken out about their ideas on how to deal with Russia and how to help Ukraine, they now have a matter of days to get anything productive done.