WASHINGTON: The Senate passed a long-awaited foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel on Tuesday, delivering a bipartisan endorsement of the legislation after months of negotiations, dire battlefield warnings and political mudslinging. But the measure faced a buzz saw of opposition in the House, where Republican resistance threatened to kill it.
The 70-29 vote reflected a critical mass of support in Congress for the $95 billion emergency aid legislation and for continuing to arm Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. The measure would provide an additional $60.1 billion for Ukraine – which would bring the total US investment in the war effort to more than $170 billion – as well as $14.1 billion for Israel’s war against Hamas and almost $10 billion for humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
But it also splintered Republicans and foretold a bumpy road ahead in the GOP-led House, where the speaker suggested late Monday that he would not act on it.
Twenty-two Senate Republicans voted with almost all Democrats for the bill – five more than had helped it over a final procedural hurdle on Monday – while the rest of the party argued against continuing to fund a foreign nation’s battle to protect its sovereignty without first cracking down on an influx of migration into the US across its border with Mexico. The vote took place after an all-night Senate session in which a parade of Republican opponents made speeches denouncing various aspects of the bill.
Republican hostility to the measure has been egged on by former President Trump, who encouraged GOP senators to reject an earlier version that would have included a bipartisan border security deal, and by Speaker Mike Johnson.
“House Republicans were crystal clear from the very beginning of discussions that any so-called national security supplemental legislation must recognise that national security begins at our own border,” Johnson said in a statement Monday, adding: “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.”
His comments suggested that the foreign aid bill’s only path through the House may be for a bipartisan coalition like the one in the Senate – including more mainstream, national security-minded Republicans – to come together and use extraordinary measures to force action on it. nyt
The 70-29 vote reflected a critical mass of support in Congress for the $95 billion emergency aid legislation and for continuing to arm Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. The measure would provide an additional $60.1 billion for Ukraine – which would bring the total US investment in the war effort to more than $170 billion – as well as $14.1 billion for Israel’s war against Hamas and almost $10 billion for humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
But it also splintered Republicans and foretold a bumpy road ahead in the GOP-led House, where the speaker suggested late Monday that he would not act on it.
Twenty-two Senate Republicans voted with almost all Democrats for the bill – five more than had helped it over a final procedural hurdle on Monday – while the rest of the party argued against continuing to fund a foreign nation’s battle to protect its sovereignty without first cracking down on an influx of migration into the US across its border with Mexico. The vote took place after an all-night Senate session in which a parade of Republican opponents made speeches denouncing various aspects of the bill.
Republican hostility to the measure has been egged on by former President Trump, who encouraged GOP senators to reject an earlier version that would have included a bipartisan border security deal, and by Speaker Mike Johnson.
“House Republicans were crystal clear from the very beginning of discussions that any so-called national security supplemental legislation must recognise that national security begins at our own border,” Johnson said in a statement Monday, adding: “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.”
His comments suggested that the foreign aid bill’s only path through the House may be for a bipartisan coalition like the one in the Senate – including more mainstream, national security-minded Republicans – to come together and use extraordinary measures to force action on it. nyt