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Happy Monday morning.

The House and Senate are both in session this week as Congress tries to finish the $40 billion Ukraine aid package and takes on the baby formula shortage and soaring gas prices. Covid-19 aid is stalled, and Congress will need to begin to wrestle with that too.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will address a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, the first in-person speech by a foreign leader to lawmakers since the Covid-19 pandemic began. And it’s the first time a Greek leader has done it as well.

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Saturday’s horrific mass shooting in a Buffalo supermarket – which left 10 people dead and three more wounded – will lead to new calls for congressional action on gun control, but there’s no chance that anything passes in this Congress. GOP opposition to any new restrictions on gun sales is overwhelming. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart,” acknowledged this reality. Murphy is one of the leading Senate Democrats on gun control:

The 18-year-old gunman was reportedly motivated by white supremacist ideology, including the “Great Replacement theory,” a claim that white people are being “replaced” by non-white immigrants. This once fringe theory has been elevated on the right, particularly by conservative media including Tucker Carlson, whose Fox News show is the most popular on cable TV.

Eleven of the 13 victims in the shooting were Black. President Joe Biden, who will visit Buffalo Tuesday with first lady Jill Biden, called it a “racially motivated hate crime” and an “act of domestic terrorism.” New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) described the attack as “white supremacy terrorism,” while Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said it was a “racist hate crime.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the “the House will continue to consider additional measures to strengthen efforts to combat domestic terrorism.”

Last month, House Democratic leaders had to shelve a vote on the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act due to opposition from the Squad. Democrats are trying to revive the bill, which would create units inside the Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department and FBI focusing on domestic terrorism, including white supremacist threats. But some senior Democratic aides are skeptical it can get done this week before the upcoming recess due to timing issues. A House vote on the legislation could slip until the first week of June, the aides said.

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Ukraine: This weekend, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and three other Senate Republicans joined the growing list of lawmakers and top Biden administration officials who have made the trip to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Pelosi led a group of House Democrats to Kyiv two weeks ago, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have traveled there to meet with Zelensky.

McConnell spoke with reporters on Sunday while in Sweden, which is joining NATO along with Finland. He predicted that the $40 billion Ukraine aid package will pass the Senate with overwhelming support this week. There’s a cloture vote on the legislation today. If cloture is invoked as expected, that would set up a final vote on Wednesday.

McConnell played down the GOP opposition to the aid package. Former President Donald Trump – echoing a line taken by a number of Republicans – said on Friday that “the Democrats are sending another $40 billion to Ukraine, yet America’s parents are struggling to even feed their children.” Fifty-seven House Republicans voted against the bill last week, and several GOP Senate candidates – Adam Laxalt in Nevada, J.D. Vance in Ohio and Kathy Barnette in Pennsylvania – have come out against the funding.

Here’s more McConnell:

The GOP leader also said he’d support listing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.

→	Baby formula and “price gouging”: The House will take up legislation related to two major issues rippling across the country right now: the baby formula shortage and record-high gas prices.

The House is expected to vote on two bills addressing the formula shortage this week. One, from House Education Committee Chair Bobby Scott (D-Va.) would loosen the restrictions on what type of formula can be purchased through the WIC (Women, Infant and Children) program. About 50 percent of formula sold nationwide is purchased with WIC benefits.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) is also preparing an emergency supplemental for funds to immediately purchase baby formula available from Chile, Mexico, Ireland and the Netherlands. On Thursday, an Appropriations subcommittee will hear from FDA Commissioner Robert Califf on the shortage.

A source familiar with the issue said appropriators held talks this weekend on “legislation to meet the immediate needs of parents who cannot find formula to feed their infants.” The bill could come to the floor as early as this week.

Pelosi said on Sunday that Democrats are doing everything they can to address the shortage but believes that Congress would have to change current law to allow Biden to implement the Defense Production Act to manufacture more formula.

“We certainly should,” Pelosi said on CNN’s State of the Union with Dana Bash. “But … as the law is now, it is not possible to do that.”

In addition, the House will take up a bill to address price gouging by allowing Biden to issue a national emergency to prohibit selling gasoline or fuel for homes at an “unconsciously excessive” price. The bill would authorize the Federal Trade Commission to penalize bad actors, particularly large corporations.

Both issues – the formula shortage and gas prices – are major priorities for Frontliners as they desperately try to change the narrative heading into what’s shaping up to be a ruthless political climate for Democrats going into the midterms.

→	One more thing: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced Sunday that he has suffered a “mild stroke.” Van Hollen said he hopes to be back in the Senate “later this week.” Here’s the full statement from his office:

The 63-year-old Van Hollen is the second Senate Democrat to suffer a stroke this year. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) had a stroke on Jan. 27, but he recovered rapidly and returned to the Senate by early March.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the leading Democratic Senate candidate in that state’s primary, also suffered a stroke on Friday. Fetterman said he’s “well on my way to a full recovery” in a statement released by the campaign on Sunday.

– John Bresnahan and Heather Caygle

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