Young Senate Republicans tore apart Republican leadership after the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill without addressing the migrant crisis at the southern border.
Early Tuesday, the Senate voted 70-29 in favor of President Biden’s request for an additional package that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and the Indo-Pacific region. The bill passed after weeks of contentious debate, in which bipartisan negotiators proposed a deal on border security funding that was rejected by conservatives and declared null and void on arrival in the House. It was done.
“This morning, America’s last caucus secured a $61 billion aid package from the Senate. But they paid a high price for this small victory. The House will not pass the current bill.” Republican Sen. J.D. Vance posted on X. After additional packages have passed.
“We must rebuild our country before we commit more resources to Ukraine,” Vance said in a statement summarizing complaints from 22 Republican senators who voted against the policy. he added.
Senate passes controversial foreign aid bill that sends billions of dollars to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan
Sen. J.D. Vance, 38, is one of several junior members of the Senate Republican conference who opposed additional funding for Ukraine without new border security measures. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The United States has already spent more than $100 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war against Russia began in February 2022.
The funding bill passed Tuesday morning includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and nearly $5 billion for the Indo-Pacific. Democrats brought the package to a vote after Republicans blocked a previous $118 billion package that included numerous bipartisan border and immigration provisions.
The final bill contained no border security provisions and was opposed by several junior members of the Republican conference.
“Nearly every Republican senator under the age of 55 voted no on this last bill in America,” Republican Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, 48, said in X. “15 of the 17 people elected since 2018 voted no. Change is not moving fast enough.”
Hardline Republicans tried to introduce an amendment that included border security provisions, but it failed.
Republicans are trying to include tough border security legislation in foreign aid package
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas voted against the $95 billion package with Ukraine aid, saying it didn’t include money for border security. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has introduced an amendment similar to the House immigration bill, HR2, which would restore most of the Trump administration-era restrictions, hire additional Border Patrol agents and strengthen asylum screening.
“I cannot in good conscience support this bill without substantial and significant additions to strengthen border security,” Cruz said in a statement after the bill passed without amendments.
“… [W]We must protect our country first. I will vote to support aid to our allies, but only after America’s borders are secured. “No state is bearing the brunt of this burden more than Texas, which is on the front lines of a literal invasion by millions of illegal aliens,” Cruz added.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who led the filibuster effort with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), said Republicans who voted for the package would “change their turn.” Ta.[ed] About the promises they’ve made to each other, to their constituents, and to their House Republican colleagues down the hall. ”
Senate Republicans prepare for long battle over Ukraine and aid to Israel
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (left) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. (Saul Loeb)
The division in the Senate Republican conference over foreign aid represents as much a generational rift as it does an ideological one. Mr. Lee is 52 years old. Mr. Cruz is 53 years old and Mr. Vance is 39 years old. Although Paul is slightly older at 61, he is still 20 years younger than his Kentucky colleague, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 81.
Mr. McConnell fought hard for funding for Ukraine, arguing that it was in the national interest for the United States to remain a global defender of national sovereignty against aggressors like Russia.
“I know it’s very popular in some circles to ignore the global interests we have as a world power and to bemoan the responsibilities of world leadership,” McConnell said at Sunday’s Super Bowl. “There is,” he said. “Lamenting responsibility for supporting great power conflict, the longest drought in human history, is a waste of time for lazy minds and has no place in the United States Senate.”
Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran became emotional during a floor speech in support of the bill, saying the United States has a responsibility to support Ukraine against Russian aggression.
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“I believe in America first, but unfortunately America first means we have to be involved in the world,” said Moran, 69.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), 76, called the vote on providing military aid to Ukraine “the most important vote I’ve ever taken as a U.S. senator.”
The supplemental package now goes to the House, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), 52, has already declared that it cannot begin without funding for border security. are doing.
“The mission of the National Security Supplement Act was to secure America’s own borders before sending additional foreign aid around the world,” Johnson said in a statement Monday. “It’s what the American people demand and deserve.”
Fox News Digital’s Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
