Senate on path to advance foreign aid bill despite some Republican opposition

The Senate is on monitor to go the $95 billion nationwide safety supplemental bundle to help Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific after the higher chamber handed a number of main procedural votes on Monday night time. 

The supplemental bundle doesn’t embody any border provisions and a number of other Republicans spent days — since Saturday — collectively filibustering the bundle on the Senate ground, which continued into Tuesday morning. The bill handed its closing hurdle Monday night time and the ultimate vote might come anytime Tuesday, however no later than Wednesday, relying on how lengthy Republicans can delay the vote.

The bill nonetheless has no time settlement, that means a proper settlement between Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., concerning the time allotted for debating the laws or its amendments. Both leaders have been urging their social gathering members to go the bundle. 

REPUBLICANS ATTEMPT TO GET HARDLINE BORDER SECURITY BILL INTO FOREIGN AID PACKAGE

Schumer and McConnell (Getty Images)

Sen. Mike Lee, who spent 4 hours lambasting the bill on the ground on Saturday and continued his speeches in a single day Monday, urged senators to rethink voting for its passage. 

“We cannot send billions of dollars to Ukraine while America’s own borders are bleeding,” Lee stated on Saturday. “This betrayal is all the more loathsome as it occurs at a time when the eyes of a nation are turned to sport, family and fun.”

By Monday, GOP senators had been hoping for a breakthrough to get their amendments heard. Several amendments filed included hardline border security-related provisions. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, left, and Sen. Rand Paul, proper. (Associated Press)

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me., vice chair of the appropriations committee, stated on Monday morning that “leadership on both sides of the aisle as well as the bill managers on both sides of the aisle have been working diligently night and day to try to get agreement to take consider debate and have votes on a series of amendments offered by senators on both sides of the aisle.” 

“Obviously, in order for that to occur, we would need the cooperation of all members and we would need to have time agreements because the number of amendments is considerable,” she stated.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a hawkish determine towards continued aid to Ukraine, additionally spent important time on the ground Monday prior to the vote. 

SENATE REPUBLICANS PREPARE FOR LONG HAUL IN FIGHT OVER UKRAINE, ISRAEL AID

U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy go to Saint Michael’s cathedral, amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 20, 2023. (REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)

“Senate Republican leadership, including the senators who voted to get on this bill, assured us it would be an open amendment process,” Paul informed Fox News Digital on Monday. “Mike Lee spent four hours trying to bring down amendments and the Democrats allowed zero of them. So yeah, I do believe that the Democrats have not been honest or forthright about allowing amendments.”

On Sunday, Schumer stated on the ground that there could be a “fair and reasonable amendment votes” on the ground “if there’s any possibility of speeding this process up.” 

However, Republicans who’re towards passing the aid bill don’t desire the method to be sped up and argue they need to be allowed to provide amendments even when they do not assist the general bill. 

“And members on their side have actually said since we’re not for the overall bill, we shouldn’t even have the right to have amendments,” Paul stated Monday night time. “So no, it’s a terrible process and we’re going to continue to fight them on this and talking filibusters are ongoing as we speak, and the talking filibuster will be going on as long as we have speakers into the night.”

SENATE TANKS IMMIGRATION, FOREIGN AID SPENDING PACKAGE AFTER GOP BACKLASH AGAINST BORDER PROVISIONS

A view of destruction after Russian airstrikes hit civil settlements in Mykolaiv, Ukraine on March 13, 2022. (Photo by State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency by way of Getty Images)

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., one other dissenting vote for the foreign aid-only bundle, additionally informed Fox News Digital on Monday night time that “they don’t want amendments because they’d be bad votes for some of the senators and the Democratic side of their elections coming up.” He defined the social gathering is cut up on the difficulty of extra aid to Ukraine. 

The former soccer coach additionally provided an modification to the bundle he stated, which might “pretty much close the border down” and “doing the things at the border that we already have laws for.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, additionally launched an modification equivalent to the House’s immigration bill, H.R.2, which might restore most Trump-era restrictions, rent extra border patrol officers and tighten asylum screenings.

Republican Sens. Roger Marshall, JD Vance, and Josh Hawley had been just some different senators who spoke in opposition to the bill on Monday, persevering with the filibuster. Meanwhile, GOP Sens. Mitt Romney and Thom Tillis had been just some who urged their colleagues to “delay” no additional and go the bundle. 

The bundle consists of $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian help for Gaza and practically $5 billion for the Indo-Pacific, together with Taiwan. Democrats introduced the bundle up for a vote after Republicans had blocked the $118 billion bundle that additionally included quite a few border and immigration provisions final Wednesday. 

Republicans had beforehand stated they might not approve funding for Ukraine until the overwhelmed southern border was secured first. The GOP-led House stated in an announcement Monday they might not go the Senate’s foreign aid bill with out border safety provisions, and as an alternative, would work on their very own bill. 

“House Republicans were crystal clear from the very beginning of discussions that any so-called national security supplemental legislation must recognize that national security begins at our own border,” Johnson stated in an announcement Monday night, partially. “The mandate of national security supplemental legislation was to secure America’s own border before sending additional foreign aid around the world. It is what the American people demand and deserve. Now, in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters. America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”