Schumer: Senate to vote on Ukraine-border security package next week

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, R-New York, said Thursday that Senate negotiators will release the text of a long-awaited bill addressing Ukraine war funding and border security this weekend, and senators will return to the Capitol early next week. He announced that he would go back and reconsider. law.

Schumer said he would schedule the first vote on advancing the controversial package for Wednesday, giving senators a chance to pass it before the two-week President’s Day recess.

“I want our members to know that we will be posting the full text of the National Security Supplement as early as tomorrow, and no later than Sunday,” Schumer said in a statement. “That would give members enough time to read the bill before voting on it.”

Schumer added that he would begin Senate proceedings on Monday so that senators could vote on a motion to pass the bill by midweek.

“In terms of the timing of the vote, we plan to file a motion for vehicle entry by Monday and have a first vote on the national security supplement by Wednesday at the latest,” he said.

Schumer impassioned his Republican colleagues to vote yes on the bill, declaring, “This bill is critical to helping us address multiple crises around the world.”

He cited Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s military operation to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Chinese threat in the Indo-Pacific, and the massive influx of migrants across the southern border.

“Addressing these challenges is not easy, but we cannot simply avoid responsibility simply because the challenges are difficult,” he argued.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the lead Democratic negotiator, said after four months of negotiations, it was time to bring the bill to the table.

“We have a bipartisan agreement to address the border crisis. It is no surprise that Donald Trump opposes this agreement. We want chaos in the US. It’s time to bring this deal to the floor,” Murphy wrote on social media platform X.

Senate Republican Leader John Thune (S.D.) said Thursday that he expected the bill’s text to be released by the end of Friday, and Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) also said He made this prediction to reporters.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the top Republican negotiator, said the timeline would require President Biden to deport immigrants without going through the asylum process once the number of daily migrants reaches one. He said his colleagues should be given sufficient time to consider a border security agreement that would require border security. There are over 5,000 intersections.

But for colleagues with smaller staff, it may take longer, he said.

“It depends on the level of their staff. Is there someone familiar with these issues? Then you can get through it fairly quickly,” he said.

But Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said it was “unacceptable” to give senators less than a week to consider the bill before voting.

“They took months to write it – no less, and it was completely top secret,” he wrote on social media platform X. “A few days is not enough time to read, discuss, and revise this.”

Lee argued that immigration law is so complex that it took the Judiciary Committee a month to enact comprehensive immigration legislation in 2013, and gave senators at least three weeks to consider the bill. I suggested giving it.

Al Weaver contributed.