I joined the panel yesterday on MSNBC’s Meet the Press Now, where host Kristen Welker asked us what we thought the prospects were for a grand bargain that funds both Ukraine and Israel’s wars and revises the status quo at the border. I am skeptical.

If there is a deal, it must be hammered out by next Friday, which lawmakers appear to regard as the drop-dead date because getting out of town for the holiday break is the highest priority. Still, I maintain that it would be the height of irresponsibility if Republicans balk at appropriating funds for lethal aid to support Ukraine’s war. Not only is it an abdication of America’s duty to provide for its own security as one of its most reckless antagonists marches through Europe, it would also save Joe Biden’s bacon.

Biden has throttled lethal aid to Ukraine from the outset of Russia’s second invasion. He has hemmed and hawed and given in to Ukraine’s request for this platform or that long past the point at which it would have meant the difference on the battlefield. Biden would love to outsource the consequences of his reluctance to Republicans, and he will do just that if the GOP fails to support the popular Ukrainian cause. Congressional Republicans shouldn’t give Biden the out he wants.