Photo/Illutration U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters in the U.S. Capitol after the House of Representatives passed a stopgap government funding bill to avert an immediate government shutdown on Sept. 30 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Reuters)

International collaboration to contain aggression and slaughter in Europe is still incomplete.

To preserve whatever solidarity there is, we strongly hope the United States will continue to support Ukraine.

After months of wrangling over the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal 2024 federal budget, the U.S. Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown by passing a stopgap funding bill on Sept. 30.

The temporary budget will keep the government open through mid-November and give Congress time to discuss the main budget bill.

Without this measure, many federal employees, including armed services personnel, would have been forced to work without pay. People were getting nervous about the shutdown’s potentially widespread impact on the economy, transportation and other aspects of life.

We were appalled by this needless political mess at home that contributed absolutely nothing to the common good.

One thing that cannot be overlooked about this temporary budget is that it does not include additional funding for Ukraine aid. This reflects the will of the Republican Party’s hard-line lawmakers.

Shelving budgetary measures to fund a foreign policy pledged by the government to avert imminent chaos is certain to undermine public confidence in American politics. We hope Congress will secure the additional funding for Ukraine aid as soon as possible.

The main cause of this congressional standoff was not so much Democrat-Republican conflict as GOP infighting.

House GOP hard-liners, who are loyal to former President Donald Trump, rebelled against their own House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and adamantly rejected his moderate, bipartisan budget proposal.

And the party’s Ukrainian policy highlighted the internal discord. The House hard-liners, voicing greater concern about Mexicans crossing the border into the United States than any foreign policy issue, demanded additional funding for border security.

Senate Republicans, on the other hand, called for funding to maintain the U.S. foreign policy commitment to support Ukraine.

Simply put, there are two camps within the GOP: One supports the Trumpian isolationism with its rallying cry of “America first,” and the other values international engagement based on traditional alliances and friendly relationships.

Trapped in this structural conflict, the Republican Party’s dilemma runs deep.

It is a fact that American citizens who do not support active involvement in aiding Ukraine are growing in number. In the latest survey, active supporters and those who call for caution were almost evenly divided. Another survey found that more than 70 percent of GOP supporters oppose aiding Ukraine.

“Aid fatigue” is spreading not only in newly emerging and developing nations, but also in some parts of Europe, where political forces promoting the “our country first” thinking are gaining popular support.

The United States has been leading the world in supporting Ukraine. Now is the time for U.S. politicians to truly appreciate the importance of remaining at the core of international solidarity.

Should the Americans overlook the danger of any country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity being invaded, it will be impossible for not only the United States, but for the rest of the world, to maintain any long-term security and prosperity.

We hope that President Joe Biden will tenaciously continue to explain to the nation the significance of supporting Ukraine from a broader viewpoint.

We also hope congressional leaders will aim for cool-headed diplomacy by distancing themselves from self-serving assertions being made by lawmakers with their own domestic policy agenda.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 4

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