It was the third time in recent months that the Colorado Democrat kept the Senate working late by delaying unrelated legislation to force lawmakers to approve tens of billions of dollars in weapons and economic aid for Ukraine. During an emotional, nearly hour-long speech, he urged senators to view the nearly two-year conflict as a decisive clash between authoritarianism and democracy.
However, Congress went on vacation and is not expected to return for another two weeks. President Joe Biden's administration plans to send another relief package before the New Year but says it will be the last unless Congress approves more money.
As support in Congress wanes even as conflict and unrest roil global security, the United States is once again struggling to assert its role in the world. Influenced by former President Donald Trump, the Republicans' most popular presidential candidate, Republican lawmakers have taken an increasingly skeptical stance toward U.S. involvement abroad, particularly when it comes to aid to Ukraine.
Britain and France, traditional allies, have implored Western nations to remain supportive while encouraging Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine's vital ties to the West are also at risk in the European Union, which transfers 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) every month to pay salaries and pensions, keep hospitals and schools running, and displaced people To provide accommodation and rebuild the infrastructure that was destroyed in the war. But that aid plan has now expired and the EU has failed to launch a new one for the new year.
Strengthening Ukraine's defenses has been one of the few bipartisan issues in Congress. But now the fate of about $61 billion in funding is tied up in delicate political negotiations over border security and immigration.
Still, leaders in Congress are trying to enlist their members to tackle global challenges that they say are among the most difficult in decades: the largest ground invasion by a European nation since World War II, another war between Israel and Hamas, unrest; Economic disasters reaching historic levels of migration and China asserting itself as a superpower.
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Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
SPRING: Associated Press