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Daily Briefing: Zelenskyy in Washington

Nicole Fallert   | Paste BN

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with President Joe Biden and address Congress Wednesday in his first trip outside his country since Russia began its violent invasion of Ukraine in February. Also in the news: A brewing pre-Christmas blizzard could could strengthen into a bomb cyclone and a House committee has voted to release some of Donald Trump's tax returns.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. The winter solstice is here and soon the days will be getting longer. 

Now, here we go with Wednesday's news.

Zelenskyy to meet Biden, address Congress as war rages on

Biden invited Zelenskyy to Washington to reinforce that the U.S. "stands with Ukraine for as long as it takes," according to a senior Biden administration official who discussed the trip on the condition of anonymity.

One thing to know: During their meeting, Biden will commit $2 billion in additional U.S. security assistance to send Patriot antimissile batteries to Ukraine amid the bombardment of cities by Russian missiles and drones.

  • Zelenskyy's joint address to Congress, set for later in the evening, comes as lawmakers prepare to vote on an additional $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine. The U.S. has provided about $68 billion in military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since violence between it and Russia renewed. 
  • Congressional leaders unveiled a $1.7 trillion spending package early Tuesday that includes another large round of aid to Ukraine, a nearly 10% boost in defense spending and roughly $40 billon to assist communities across the country recovering from drought, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

  • The war wages on: Russian forces fired 76 missiles across Ukraine on Friday striking the capital Kyiv in one of the biggest attacks of the war.

Dreaming of a white Christmas?

It could be a white Christmas for several northern states in the U.S. this year, with as many as 16 forecast to see snow during the holiday. Much of the country has already felt the effects of an extraordinary winter snowstorm that began the week leading up to Christmas, and while the storm is expected to pass by Christmas Eve, snow and freezing temperatures will still be in the forecast through the weekend. The winter storm system could create treacherous holiday travel conditions in the meantime as the strengthening pre-Christmas blizzard could become a bomb cyclone. Read more 

More news to know now

🌤  Is the pre-Christmas winter weather impacting you? Check your local forecast here.

Fate of Title 42 in legal limbo

The Biden administration intended to lift Title 42 Wednesday, but its fate may rest with the Supreme Court. Under the Trump administration, the Centers for Disease Control invoked the health code to prevent migrants from being held in crowded holding facilities during a global pandemic. Immigrant advocates say the policy was used for border control long after the COVID-19 threat had retreated. Now two competing lawsuits have pinballed the policy's fate in the courts and border cities like El Paso are managing high numbers of migrants and bracing for an even greater surge if the order is lifted. Read more

House panel votes to release Trump tax information

A House committee voted Tuesday to publicly release some of Donald Trump's tax returns, despite Republican threats to retaliate against President Joe Biden and other Democrats. It is not known exactly when the Trump tax documents will become available. Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee said releasing the tax returns is in the public interest, and part of an effort to improve auditing procedures at the Internal Revenue Service. Republicans denounced the move as a purely political precedent and said it could be used in the future to target many Americans. Read more

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Behind the Blue wall

Officers from Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police department last year decided to pursue the first ever class action lawsuit by Black female law enforcement officers against a U.S. law enforcement agency. These officers spoke with Paste BN reporters about their experiences, which offer a stark contrast from how city leaders say they treat women at MPD. Their stories portray MPD as a place where Black women at every level have been ignored, marginalized or pushed out. As a result, the women, many of them highly decorated officers, saw damage not just to their careers, but to their lives. Read more of our Behind the Blue Wall investigation.

📷 Photo of the day: Hanukkah celebrated around the world 📷

Each winter, Jewish people around the world celebrate Hanukkah, the "Festival of Lights." The celebrations include lighting eight candles on a special menorah. These candles represent the miracle of one day's worth of oil burning for eight during the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago. Read more about the holiday from Paste BN columnist Luke Berryman.

Click here to see more photos of the Jewish Festival of Lights around the world. 

One more thing

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at Paste BN, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to Paste BN here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

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