.ON DECEMBER 6TH Republicans turned down President Joe Biden's ask for $106bn of funding, many of it to help arm Ukraine, on the basis that its stipulations to secure America's southerly boundary performed certainly not progress sufficient. A team of senators right now appear near hitting a bipartisan deal on immigration rules, believed to include tougher policies as the cost of Republican help. But it looks very likely to be defeated in our home of Representatives. On January 14th Mike Johnson, your house speaker, mentioned that meaningful border reform will need to hang around till a Republican was head of state. Yet on January 17th, after an appointment with Mr Biden, he suggested that he could be ready for a trade-off besides. Is actually one likely?