The Senate is voting on whether to send billions in aid to key U.S. allies after months of negotiations to add border security reforms to such a package was voted down by nearly every Republican on Wednesday.
The winnowed-down bill includes more than $60 billion in aid for Ukraine as it fends off a Russian invasion, and $14 billion for Israel in its war in Gaza, and has long been a top national security priority for President Biden, who asked for the funds last October.
Biden has been stymied by congressional Republicans who demanded strict border reforms be attached to them in exchange for their support. But Republicans banded together to block the larger package that included the very border reforms they demanded earlier Wednesday, after former president Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) voiced their opposition to it.
The internal GOP disarray may ironically end up reviving Ukraine funding, which had become politically toxic among many Republican lawmakers whose “America First” base has become skeptical of foreign aid. The bill, which also includes billions for IndoPacific allies and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza, Ukraine and other nations, faces several more votes before it would become law.
GOP senators have been deeply divided on how to proceed on the foreign aid package, with some critics arguing that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) led them into a political box canyon where Democrats have claimed the political edge on border security after they voted down the border deal they initially demanded.
Sen Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said earlier Thursday that Republicans were unsure how to proceed, and that the few lawmakers who favored the new legislation had to “soul search” and decide if they want to provide the deciding vote on the package — given he did not anticipate many Republican senators joining Democrats to clear the 60-vote hurdle by a large margin.
The failure of the border and foreign aid package has been embarrassing for McConnell, whose staff helped negotiate the bill, given just four Senate Republicans voted for the deal Wednesday. McConnell, the longest-serving party leader in the Senate, has made backing Ukraine and the U.S. commitment to NATO a core issue. But he has had trouble finding a way to deliver the votes from his conference given the issue’s unpopularity among the base and House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) insistence he would not pass it without strict border reforms attached. The House refused to even take up the border and aid measure, however, after Trump came out against it.
A number of Senate Republicans are headed to the Munich Security Conference next week, where Ukraine’s fate will be top of mind.
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