Politico reports:

The White House is steeling itself for new challenges posed by a winter of war in Ukraine and an incoming Republican House majority promising to curb funding to Kyiv.

Though Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russia’s brutal invasion continue to exceed expectations, President Joe Biden has been warily watching developments on both sides of the Atlantic. Ukraine remains standing as fighting enters its tenth month, but new tests for the Biden administration, at home and abroad, are rising just as the temperatures drop in Eastern Europe.

White House aides have privately admitted for months that, at a certain point, congressional funding for the war would slow as it drifts from the headlines. But there is a push by the administration to make sure Ukraine has the assistance it needs to make it through the winter, despite Russian attacks on the electrical grid that have plunged much of the nation into the darkness and left millions of war-weary residents without heat or light.

Most immediately, the administration is leaning on Congress now to pass more Ukraine funding in the omnibus spending bill currently being negotiated. [Continue reading…]