by The Senate on Sunday pushed a $95 billion emergency aid bill for Ukraine and Israel, clearing a critical hurdle, with a bipartisan vote that kept it on track to pass within days.
The vote was 67-27 to advance the package, which would dedicate $60.1 billion to help Kiev in its war against Russian aggression, send $14.1 billion to Israel for its war against Hamas and finance nearly $10 billion in humanitarian assistance for civilians in conflict. areas, while addressing threats to the Indo-Pacific region. In a rare Sunday session, 18 Republicans joined Democrats to push the measure, which leaders hope the Senate will approve on Tuesday.
“It is no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the world are on the United States Senate,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader, said on the floor Sunday, appealing to his colleagues to support the bill. law. He argued that America’s allies “cannot afford to pretend that the world’s most dangerous aggressors are someone else’s problem and neither are we.”
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said on the floor: “We are going to continue working on this bill until the work is done.” He praised Republicans who had backed the measure for “working in good faith to get it done” and said it was “essential” that the Senate pass the legislation. It had been decades, Schumer added, since Congress considered a bill “that so significantly impacts not only our national security, not only the security of our allies, but the very security of Western democracy and our ideals.”
But major hurdles remain for the bill in the Republican-led House of Representatives, where it faces staunch opposition fueled by former President Donald J. Trump’s “America First” stance.
The bipartisan support in the Senate came despite bitter opposition from right-wing Republicans who have criticized the measure, arguing that the United States should not continue sending tens of billions of dollars to bolster Ukraine’s security, particularly without doing so. first more to secure its own border with Mexico against an influx of migration. They have continued to make the argument even after voting last week to kill a version of the relief bill that included a border offensive, saying it did not go far enough.
Many Republican opponents have also questioned the billions of dollars the bill would devote to humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, as well as $7.9 billion in economic aid to shore up Ukraine’s internal infrastructure during times of war.
“We spent four months promising the American people that we would secure our own border before focusing on other countries’ borders,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on “Fox News Sunday,” adding that he also had “serious concerns about the $19 billion of non-defense aid there.” (Last week, Cotton voted with most of his party to kill the bipartisan border plan.)
Trump has stoked resistance, urging Republican lawmakers to reject the bipartisan border plan and goading House GOP leaders, who vowed it would be dead by the time it reached their chamber. Trump has also made no secret of his opposition to funding Ukraine’s military campaign to beat back a Russian invasion, a stance he underscored during a campaign rally Saturday by suggesting that, if re-elected, he would not defend U.S. allies against threats of Moscow.
Trump described the United States’ role in preserving the global democratic order as strictly transactional and declared that if a NATO member did not commit the funds necessary to bolster the organization’s collective security, he would refuse to defend them against a Russian attack. About Russia, he added: “I would encourage them to do whatever they wanted.”
NATO members are expected to commit at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product to military spending, a threshold that most of its member countries have not met.
Sunday’s action amounted to a repudiation of Trump’s position by Democrats and a determined bloc of Republicans, led by McConnell, who have maintained that it is imperative that the United States continue to assist Ukraine militarily to send a signal to the rest. of dictators of the world.
“Deterrence is not divisible; American credibility is not divisible,” Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said on the floor Friday, adding: “You can’t say, ‘We’re going to be really strong in the Taiwan Strait, but you know, no.’ . problem in Ukraine.” “
Democrats predicted that enough Republicans would eventually reject Trump’s push for the Senate to pass the measure.
“It’s been difficult to get Republican votes to support Ukraine, made very difficult by Donald Trump’s opposition to funding Ukraine, but I think we’re going to get there,” Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, a Democrat, said Sunday. of Connecticut. on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” warning that the United States would be “on the brink of a disaster” that could lead President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to threaten NATO allies if the Senate did not approve the bill.
The bipartisan coalition that has passed the bill so far will have to hold together for a few more votes before the Senate votes on approving the foreign assistance package and sending it to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson faces threats from the right to try to expel him if he introduces a Ukraine aid bill.
The reaction from hardline Republicans in the House of Representatives is one reason Republicans have been so insistent that they be allowed to propose revisions to the measure before voting on its passage. The exercise of voting on partisan proposals, even if they are doomed to fail, is important, some Senate Republicans explained, to indicate to the Republican base where the party stands and how impossible it would be to get all of its demands approved by a democratic party. -Senate led.
Before the Senate voted to advance the bill on Sunday, all but four Senate Republicans voted on a measure that would have hindered its progress, to protest the fact that senators had not been given more opportunities. to propose changes to the bill. I do not pass.
If leaders can reach agreement on what measures to consider, the Senate could be in extended session Sunday to vote on them. Aides were making plans over the weekend to ensure senators could watch the Super Bowl, bringing extra televisions to the Capitol and ordering pizza, in case they were called to continue voting overnight.
The Republican wish list of revisions to the foreign aid bill focuses primarily on the southwest border. It includes a measure that mirrors a restrictive border enforcement bill that the House passed last spring with only Republican votes.
Democrats have responded with their own demands for revisions, such as a proposal by Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, to give legal permanent residency to certain undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.
After the demise of the bipartisan immigration plan, neither party will likely be able to muster the 60 votes needed to add such provisions to the final bill.
Among the other changes Republicans have been demanding is a measure to remove economic assistance to Ukraine from the bill. A subset of Democrats has also been seeking votes to limit the impact of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, including a measure to prohibit Palestinian civilians from being forcibly displaced.
