.ON DECEMBER 6TH Republicans declined Head of state Joe Biden's request for $106bn of funding, the majority of it to aid branch Ukraine, on the manner that its own provisions to get America's southern perimeter carried out not go far good enough. A group of legislators currently seem near to striking a bipartisan bargain on immigration rules, thought to include tougher plans as the rate of Republican support. Yet it looks probably to be defeated in our home of Reps. On January 14th Mike Johnson, the House sound speaker, pointed out that meaningful border reform will have to wait up until a Republican politician was president. Yet on January 17th, after a meeting along with Mr Biden, he prompted that he may be ready for a compromise it goes without saying. Is one likely?