Navalny’s death shocks, but doesn’t shift, divided US Congress

U.S. lawmakers expressed shock and outrage at the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Friday, but the news looked unlikely to bridge
deep divides over whether the United States should continue its military support for Ukraine.
“There are some (members of Congress) that I don’t think can be persuaded because the narrative is so strong,” Republican Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters on Friday.
“I think the brainwashing, if you will, that we have to choose between our southern border and Ukraine has been out there. I don’t agree with that,” McCaul, an advocate for aid to Kyiv as it battles a nearly two-year-long Russian invasion, said at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
The reports of Navalny’s death come as the U.S. political world battles over how and whether to stand up to Russia, particularly after Washington has approved more than $110 billion in defense assistance for Ukraine, and Biden’s request for another $60 billion for Kyiv is stalled in the U.S. Congress.