Written by by Sahil Kapur at nbcnews.com
WASHINGTON — From confrontations over government funding and foreign aid to Republican threats to impeach President Joe Biden despite the lack of an impeachable offense, a divided Congress is entering the new year facing a slew of big fights.
And it will do so against the backdrop of an election year, with the White House and Congress up for grabs in November. One question mark hanging over these fights is the still-nascent speakership of Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., who is trying to navigate a wafer-thin majority and familiar pressures from conservative hard-liners who overthrew his predecessor.
Here are five big fights that await Congress in 2024.
Immigration and Ukraine funding
A high-stakes clash over immigration policy caused Congress to punt Biden’s national security package into next year, with Senate Republicans demanding tougher immigration laws as the price of winning their votes for additional U.S. aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Senators insist they’re making progress, and Democrats have offered serious concessions on raising the standards for asylum-seekers and expanding the president’s power to quickly remove migrants who cross the border. But thorny issues remain in a debate that has bedeviled Congress for decades.