Reid: Putin is ‘homesick’ for Soviet Union

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine because he was “homesick” for the Soviet Union.

“What President Putin did was wrong,” Reid said. “It was a violation of international law and I think it’s too bad that he’s homesick over the Soviet Union — he’s one of the few.”

{mosads}Reid said he was optimistic that the Senate would pass an aid package for Ukraine Thursday. The bill would also sanction Russian leaders involved in the annexation of Crimea.

Reid said he hoped the bipartisan effort on Ukraine would continue while the Senate worked on an extension of unemployment insurance (UI).

“It’s my sincere hope that the bipartisan progress we have just made on Ukraine legislation will carry over to unemployment insurance,” Reid said. “All we have to do is work together.”

The Senate has rejected two UI extensions from Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.), but the third one has five Republican cosponsors, meaning it will clear the 60-vote hurdle of a filibuster.

The latest UI bill is a five-month extension of benefits that will help more than 2 million people who have been unemployed and looking for work for more than six months.

The bill is fully paid for, but Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said he wouldn’t take up the measure in the House unless job-creating provisions were added.