Recently, one of the nation’s most prominent Democrats, longtime senator and former Vice-President Joe Biden presented the Liberty Medal to Sen. John McCain, an icon of the Republican Party. The two consider themselves friends, despite many disagreements over national security matters during the course of their many decades of public life. Both men, notwithstanding party affiliation, are internationalists who strongly believe in an America committed to international peace and stability and the defense of human rights, democracy, freedom and justice. Not coincidentally, both men have also been among Ukraine’s strongest supporters, reflecting a bipartisan consensus.
Growing partisanship has been rife on Capitol Hill in recent years, leading to polarization and dysfunction. Possible culprits arguably include over-the-top gerrymandering, the role of money in politics, a shortened weekly congressional schedule that doesn’t encourage members getting to know each other, and the 24-7 news cycle and social media. Congressional politics both reflect and often exacerbate deep fissures within American society – fissures that have only grown since the election of our current president. Some degree of partisanship is normal and, indeed, necessary in a democracy, but the increasing inability of Republicans and Democrats to compromise has produced gridlock with its decidedly unhealthy consequences.
Ukraine has been a welcome exception to congressional partisanship, not only since Russia’s invasion in early 2014, but for the better part of the last century.
During the last three years, numerous initiatives in support of Ukraine, first and foremost legislation, have enjoyed increasingly rare bipartisan support. Given how little Republicans and Democrats agree, this is most welcome. Several Members of Congress – only half-kiddingly – have mentioned that about the only thing Republicans and Democrats agree on these days is Ukraine. While an exaggeration, it underscores the commitment in helping Ukraine to counter Russia’s aggression and continue its difficult journey to become a strong, democratic state.
Bipartisanship towards Ukraine is nothing new, despite the perception by some, both in Ukraine and in the United States, that only Republicans have cared about Ukraine. One can make the argument that during the Soviet era the more conservative, more anti-Communist and anti-Soviet Republicans were, generally speaking, more pro-Ukrainian. However, this pro-Ukrainian sentiment was also strongly held within the Democratic Party, as many Democrats also supported freedom and human rights in Ukraine and the other Captive Nations. Clearly, the broad bipartisan consensus on Ukraine existed even prior to independence.
In my own experience, having worked for 35 years at the Helsinki Commission, an independent non-partisan U.S. agency of which members of the Senate and House constitute a majority of commissioners, I saw many Democrats who were as engaged on Ukraine as any Republican. And I say this as one who had the privilege of being hired back in late 1981 by one of the most prominent Republicans, Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, who at the time was co-chairman of the commission and himself a great friend of the cause of freedom for Ukraine. Sen. Dole provided me the opportunity of a lifetime, for which I am eternally grateful.
The first chairman of the Helsinki Commission, a Democrat, Rep. Dante Fascell (D-Fla.) held numerous hearings on the plight of human rights in Ukraine at a time when Ukraine was relatively unknown. During the historic transition that took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the fall of the Soviet empire, the Helsinki Commission was led by two Democrats, Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Rep. Hoyer later became Majority Leader of the House of Representatives and now serves as the No. 2 Democrat. Both were champions for human rights in Ukraine, including the defense of political prisoners. Both were among the first members of Congress to meet with key Ukrainian dissidents in Moscow in 1988. Both were leaders in the Congress in pressing for the legalization of the persecuted Ukrainian Catholic Church. And Sen. DeConcini led the Senate effort in 1991 to support U.S. recognition of Ukraine’s independence.
The most active Republican Helsinki Commissioner at the time, Rep. Don Ritter (R-Pa.), led the effort in the House and was also a highly committed advocate of human rights and freedom in Ukraine. Another Republican House member, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) served as either chairman or co-chairman in 1995-2006, and was one of the most outspoken and active members of Congress on Ukraine during that time period.
I mention these particular senators and representatives – both Democrats and Republicans – as I saw their efforts close up. They were far from the only ones.
Today, there remain many, in both parties, highly engaged on Ukraine and in strengthening U.S.-Ukraine relations.
Key Republican senators are Mr. McCain of Arizona and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who serves as co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus. Other Senate Democrats especially active on Ukraine in recent years include Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a former chairman of the Helsinki Commission who now is the top Democrat on the highly influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who also is the Democratic co-chairman of the Senate Ukraine Caucus.
The most active Democratic friends of Ukraine in the House include Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Sander Levin (D-Mich.), long-time co-chairs of the House Ukraine Caucus, as well as Elliott Engel (D-N.Y.), who plays an important role as the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Ukraine and Ukrainian Americans should not forget past and present congressional friends of Ukraine, Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative.
Having this historic congressional bipartisan support has been instrumental in ensuring that Ukraine remains a foreign policy priority, which is not an easy task considering all of the challenges that the United States, the world’s only superpower, confronts today. Will it continue? If the kind of committed belief in America’s unique role as a promoter of security and freedom exhibited by Messrs. McCain and Biden persists, indeed it will. Despite recent isolationist trends, especially within the Republican Party, a broad internationalist consensus still exists. The overwhelming recent bipartisan passage of Sens. Cardin’s and McCain’s tough Russia sanctions underscores that consensus. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine so egregiously violated the post-war international order that Ukraine will not fall off the map. However, the level and enthusiasm of bipartisan support for Ukraine will depend on a number of factors, including continued advocacy by the Ukrainian American community, Ukraine’s many friends and, perhaps more importantly, how Ukraine continues its reform efforts.
Now, if only the congressional bipartisanship on Ukraine would extend to other critically important domestic and foreign policy issues facing the United States today…