On Monday night, a bipartisan coalition of senators took another step toward passing funding for Ukraine, Israel and other defense priorities, overcoming staunch opposition from conservatives who have worked hard to delay the bill. approved three procedural motions.
Senators voted 66-33 to end extended consideration of the $95 billion package, with a final vote scheduled for early Tuesday morning before sending it to the House, where its future remains uncertain.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) voted against it. Merkley had voted with Democrats in favor of advancing the bill in a preliminary vote.
Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York touted the bill as “a down payment on the survival of Western democracies and the survival of American values.”
He urged his colleagues to end the nearly week-long debate, saying “it’s taken long enough” since President Biden first called for the policy in October.
Democratic and Republican senators who voted to advance the bill said the strong bipartisan support provided enough political momentum to galvanize Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to bring it to the full House floor. I hope that it will be.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson fired a warning shot on Monday, minutes before the House of Lords was to take its first vote, criticizing the bill’s lack of border provisions.
“[I]”Unless we receive any changes to border policy from the Senate, the House will have to continue to take charge of these important issues on its own,” Johnson wrote. “America deserves better than what’s going on in the Senate.”
Debate over the bill erupted during a scheduled two-week recess that began last weekend, highlighting deep divisions within the Senate Republican conference over the handling of the Ukraine war and border crisis.
It also revealed the hostility that Senate conservatives, emboldened by former President Trump, have toward their own leadership.
Last week, Republican infighting continued, with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) challenging Senate Republican Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for leadership. I asked him to step down from his post.
Even McConnell’s home state colleague, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), called the Republican leader’s support for the emergency foreign aid package “outrageous.”
But Mr. McConnell pushed back against his critics, arguing that the nation’s leaders cannot afford to play politics at the expense of national security.
He warned on Sunday that “a world order in which U.S. support is desperately needed and U.S. power is concerned is in question.”
“And we, the United States, have the most to lose,” he said.
Mr. McConnell dismissed his harshest critics in the Senate Republican conference and lost the 2022 leadership race in favor of Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida)’s unsuccessful leadership bid. He accused her of holding a grudge against him.
“They can already win,” he told The Associated Press last week.
Senators voted for the fourth and fifth time Monday to advance the package, which includes $60 billion for Ukraine. $14 billion for Israel. $9 billion in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Ukraine. and $4.8 billion to support allies in the Indo-Pacific.
The bill also includes the Fentanyl Elimination Act, which would give Biden the power to sanction transnational criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl.
Senate leadership is without the bipartisan border reform deal negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) conservative Republicans said they advanced the bill. It fell well short of the tough reforms passed by the House of Representatives in the Secure Borders Act (HR 2).
Conservative senators led by Cruz, Lee and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) opposed the border deal, saying it would make immigration problems worse.
Trump, the likely Republican nominee, also told allies he did not want to give Biden a political victory and urged Republicans to reject it.
Many Republican senators who voted against funding for Ukraine and Israel said they wanted a chance to revise the package to include stronger border security reforms.
A small group of senators proposed more than 80 amendments to the bill, accusing some of their colleagues of trying to use the amendment process to derail the bill.
Senators haggled Friday and over the weekend but were unable to reach an agreement on a vote on the amendment.
The Senate is scheduled to vote on final passage of the bill on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on whether conservatives insist on using the full 30 hours of deliberation at their disposal.
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