The Senate passed the $95 billion foreign aid package early Tuesday morning, with 22 Republican senators voting against the legislation. The bill passed through the upper chamber with a vote of 70-29 as the Republican opposition was joined by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
The legislation's passing comes after the Senate's "bipartisan" border deal fell apart after conservative Republicans deemed it to be too weak on border security. Instead of attempting to amend the border bill, Senate leadership stripped out a potential border deal and crafted a new supplemental that would focus solely on funding for the war in Ukraine, additional aid for Israel, and other foreign policy priorities. The bill includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion for Gaza, and close to $5 billion for the Indo-Pacific, per Fox News.
Conservative senators attempted to block the legislation by filibustering for days, but they could not secure the necessary votes to prevent the bill from coming to the floor. "This morning the America last caucus got a $61 billion aid package out of the Senate. But they paid dearly for this small win. The House won't pass the current bill," Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) wrote. "We must fix our country before devoting more resources to Ukraine. That's our message, and the fight goes on."
The senators who joined Democrats and voted in favor of the legislation include Sens. John Thune, Thom Tillis, Roger Wicker, Todd Young, Mitch McConnell, Jerry Moran, Lisa Murkowski, James Risch, Mitt Romney, Mike Rounds, Dan Sullivan, John Cornyn, Kevin Cramer, Mike Crapo, Joni Ernst, Chuck Grassley, John Hoeven, John Kennedy, John Boozman, Shelley Moore Capito, Bill Cassidy, and Susan Collins.
In response to the Senate's vote, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) wrote, "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. The House acted ten months ago to help enact transformative policy changes by passing the Secure Our Border Act, and since then, including today, the Senate has failed to meet the moment."
Speaker Johnson explained that the Senate should have "gone back to the drawing board" on the original legislation that included the border rather than stripping all border provisions from the bill. "Instead, the Senate's foreign aid bill is silent on the most pressing issue facing our country," Johnson said in a statement. "America deserves better than the Senate's status quo."
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