.ON DECEMBER 6TH Republicans denied President Joe Biden's request for $106bn of backing, a lot of it to help arm Ukraine, on the basis that its own arrangements to protect America's southerly boundary did certainly not go far enough. A team of senators now appear close to striking a bipartisan bargain on immigration rules, thought to feature harder plans as the rate of Republican assistance. Yet it appears likely to be finished off in the House of Agents. On January 14th Mike Johnson, your home sound speaker, pointed out that significant boundary reform would certainly must stand by until a Republican politician was president. However on January 17th, after a meeting with Mr Biden, he hinted that he could be open to a trade-off after all. Is actually one very likely?