Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on bipartisan support for Ukraine, Biden’s nominees

Judy Woodruff:

As the conflict in Ukraine intensifies, members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are calling for more support for Ukraine. This comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to address Congress later this week.

Here to break down what's at stake is Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

And hello. It is very good to see both of you again in the studio, plowing ahead.

But the news that we are here to talk about, a lot of it is grim. And that is the war in Ukraine.

And, as I just mentioned, Tam, there is a kind of remarkable agreement right now between the two parties, that Russia is doing horrific things in Ukraine and that Russia needs to be punished. How unusual is it to see the two political parties in agreement on foreign policy?

Tamara Keith, National Public Radio:

Well, there is nothing like a common enemy to help unite the political parties and to unite politics.

And you have Vladimir Putin in popularity now somewhere down by Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. When there is someone who is so clearly disliked by the world and by the American public, it helps members of Congress be able to come together.

I think, inevitably, there will be disagreements about tactics. And you occasionally see some of those fissures already, people, Republicans especially, saying President Biden maybe isn't going far enough. President Biden insisting on staying closely tied to the allies and moving in conjunction with allies, even at times when it is frustrating for members of his own party.

But, at this moment, there is something like unity. They're — even the American people seem — a large share of the American people seem willing to pay more for gas even to stick it to Russia and Putin.

Judy Woodruff:

Yes.

And when you look — but, Amy, when you look beneath the surface, I mean, how real is that agreement?

Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report:

That's right.

So what we see is Americans rallying around the policies of the administration. Yes, we support sanctions on gas. Yes, we want to see more aid going to Ukraine, send them more weapons. But they're not rallying around the president.

And so the president's overall approval ratings haven't budged all that much, even as people are saying they do approve of what his administration has done, which I think speaks to, at the end of the day, we can all agree on a common enemy, but it doesn't mean that we agree that the president himself is doing the job they want him to do.

Judy Woodruff:

And it is a question, because if you — and you were pointing out to us today a poll that showed there's agreement that the president is making the right decisions when it comes to Ukraine, but less support for his overall…

(CROSSTALK)

Amy Walter:

I mean, the handling.

Judy Woodruff:

Right. And I was trying to figure out, what is the difference?

Amy Walter:

How does that work? Right; 59 percent say Biden's made the right decisions on Ukraine, but just 43 percent approve of the way he's handling Ukraine, which goes to the deeper — at the end of the day, we still remain an incredibly polarized country.

I also think driving…

(CROSSTALK)

Judy Woodruff:

In other words, a lot of that is built in.

Amy Walter:

A lot of that is built in, right, that you're not going to give…

(CROSSTALK)

Judy Woodruff:

Right.

Amy Walter:

… President Biden any credit at all, even if you like what his administration is doing.

Tamara Keith:

Is it like substance vs. style almost?

Amy Walter:

There's some of that, I think.

And I think, also, so much of what's baked in about frustration with Biden is about the other thing that's on top of everybody's mind, inflation and gas prices.

Judy Woodruff:

And inflation still is a very real concern.

We're in a midterm election year.

Amy Walter:

Yes.

Tamara Keith:

Yes, absolutely.

And it is painful to fill up at the gas pump. It is — every time you go to the grocery store, you are reminded that inflation is real, and gas prices and inflation are things that the president of the United States has very little power to do anything about. And yet it can seal his fate, seal his party's fate.

Judy Woodruff:

And, Amy, you were also — we were going back and forth today, if you will, about, historically, how presidents may start out being seen in one way when it comes to a foreign crisis.

Amy Walter:

Right.

Judy Woodruff:

As time goes on — we think of the war in Iraq, for example — that things can change.

Amy Walter:

As it drags, correct. The war in Iraq. Exactly.

Or, for George H.W. Bush, the success of that war did not help him in his reelection, in part because we were going through really tough economic times. And so he got a tremendous amount of support there, but it didn't translate.

Judy Woodruff:

Well, we are, as we have been pointing out, only two weeks, a little bit more than two weeks into this war, going on three. So…

Amy Walter:

And I think that's also important, how much this drags out.

And it only makes the president's job even harder on those inflationary issues. When you have a war that drags on, it means more pressure on gas prices for longer and other inflationary pressures coming from the sanctions. And then the rise of COVID in places like China or the reemergence in places like China or Europe also impact this inflationary pressure.

Judy Woodruff:

No question.

Another tough, tough issue for the president, Tam, right now is the administration, weeks and weeks, they have been trying to get their nominees for the Federal Reserve Board passed by Congress, confirmed by Congress? There's been a struggle.

And, today, the Democratic Senator from West Virginia Joe Manchin, who has been a thorn in the side of President Biden on a number of issues, announced he is not going to support Sarah Bloom Raskin, one of the president's appointees. The argument, as we said, has to do with she said that climate change needs to be taken into consideration in economic policy.

What does this mean?

Tamara Keith:

Yes, well, what Senator Manchin said is that he thinks that inflation should be the number one priority. And he's not convinced that will be her focus, because she also has talked about climate change.

You have to say he comes from a fossil fuel state. He comes from West Virginia. It is a state where coal is a really big deal, where fossil fuels and where talk of climate change isn't good politics for Joe Manchin.

So that's part of the calculation here. And, also, you have to say this comes at a moment when the White House has had some defeats in Congress. They haven't been able to get Build Back Better through. They did get this big budget bill passed. They got money for Ukraine, but they had asked for $22 billion for COVID relief, and that was cut out.

And so, at this moment, they are still having difficulty getting some of the things they need from a Democratically-controlled Congress. But when you have a 50/50 Democratic control is a bit marginal.

Amy Walter:

Only 50, right.

Judy Woodruff:

And here we go again.

Amy Walter:

Here we go — well, right, and trying to, especially on fiscal policy, keep both Elizabeth Warren and Joe Manchin happy, and you can't lose either one of them, right?

Tamara Keith:

Right.

Amy Walter:

So that's the balancing act too that the president has.

There was a time not that long ago, Judy, when there were multiple Joe Manchins on the Democratic side who were a little more fiscally conservative, who were more conservative culturally, who would be more conservative on climate policy or come from fossil fuel states, energy-producing states.

Joe Manchin is the only one there now. And so, in a 50/50, Senate, he becomes obviously critical.

Judy Woodruff:

In a Congress that we have seen move increasingly to the edge of each party, to the extreme — the extreme ends.

Amy Walter:

Right. So, he's — right. Right.

Judy Woodruff:

But, Tam, does this signal this is a lost cause? I mean, does it look like they can overcome this?

Tamara Keith:

They would have to go out and find a Republican or a couple of Republicans. And it's not clear that they can.

The White House is insisting that they still want this slate of five to go, that they all need to go together. Meanwhile, these nominees are not getting confirmed because, I mean, Republicans said they would move on everybody except Sarah Bloom Raskin.

But the White House position is the White House position until that position changes.

Amy Walter:

Until it's not.

Judy Woodruff:

Until it changes. Until it changes.

Amy Walter:

Right. And the Fed is kind of important when it comes to inflation, just a little bit.

Tamara Keith:

Just a little.

Judy Woodruff:

And this is a year when the administration is looking for some other wins in Congress, so we will see how much of a fight they want to have over this one.

Amy Walter:

Right. Right.

Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, Politics Monday. So good to see both of you.

Tamara Keith:

Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

Amy Walter:

… to be here.