Senate Republicans are trying to KILL $95BILLION bill giving 'corrupt' Ukraine ... trends now
The Senate looks poised to send a sprawling package with aid for Israel and Ukraine to President Biden's desk this week, but Republicans are pulling out moves to delay the bill's passing.
Just as the Senate is anxious to get on the road for its scheduled recess, Republicans who oppose the bill are demanding votes on amendments and procedural motions to hold up the bill - and urging their colleagues to vote against it.
The upper chamber will vote to invoke cloture and begin debate on the bill Tuesday morning - starting a 30-hour clock before they can vote on final passage unless there's agreement to vote sooner. Senate leaders could offer angry opposers votes on their amendments to keep them from holding up the legislation any longer.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, urged voters: 'We Don't Have To Pass This Bill Tell Your Senators To Vote 'No!' #KillTheBill.'
Lee has put forth an amendment to make sure the Ukrainian 'loan' provisions must be repaid (they are forgivable in the House version).
The foreign aid package has laid to bare a rift within the GOP almost as vast as the on between the two parties. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., tore into Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance for his anti-Ukraine aid stance over the weekend.
Vance had written in a New York Times op-ed that Ukraine could not win the fight against Russia even with U.S. aid.
Just as the Senate is anxious to get on the road for its scheduled recess, Republicans who oppose the bill are demanding votes on amendments and procedural motions to hold up the bill - and urging their colleagues to vote against it
'Ukraine's challenge is not the GOP; it's math. Ukraine needs more soldiers than it can field. And it needs more matériel than the United States can provide,' Vance wrote.
'That is garbage,' Graham shot back on Fox News Sunday.
'Go … I just got back, I was there two weeks ago. They changed their conscription laws. They have all the manpower they need. They need the weapons,' he continued. 'It's one thing to talk about Ukraine over here; it's another thing to go.'
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., meanwhile raised concerns about a provision in the package that would force Chinese-owned ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a U.S. ban.
'The censors who abound in Congress will likely vote to ban TikTok or force a change in ownership,' he wrote in an op-ed for Reason. 'It would violate the First Amendment rights of over 100 million Americans who use TikTok to express themselves.'
He sounded off about Democrats waving 'corrupt' Ukraine flags on the House floor as they voted on the package.
'Ukrainian flags fly in the chamber of the UNITED STATES House of Representatives as they vote to send more of your hard-earned money to a corrupt foreign regime. And just like that they shout “UKRAINE! UKRAINE!”while happily working to secure Ukraine’s borders, not ours.'
On Saturday Speaker Mike Johnson risked his political career to shepherd through over $60 billion in Ukrainian aid on the House floor on Saturday as part of a $95 billion aid package for U.S. allies.
The package in total gives $26 billion to Israel, $60.8 billion to Ukraine and $8 billion to the Indo-Pacific through a combination of military and humanitarian aid.
The package consisting of three separate aid bills was voted on alongside a fourth 'side car' that includes a potential TikTok ban and a vehicle to repurpose seized Russian assets for Ukraine.
The bill providing cash for Kyiv - by far the most contentious of the day and the one Johnson could lost his job over - passed 311 to 112.
'We would rather send bullets to the conflict overseas than our own boys, our troops,' Johnson insisted after the vote.
The Israel aid bill passed 366 to 58, with opposition largely consisting of progressives who wanted the aid conditioned on a ceasefire.
The House passed a foreign aid package that has been a thorn in Speaker Mike Johnson's side for months. The Senate originally passed a similar version of the measure in February
Democrats and a small handful of Republicans waved Ukrainian flags on the House floor during the vote and cheered as it passed. They were reminded 'it is a violation of decorum to wave flags on the floor.'
The side car bill passed 360 to 58, with an amendment that requires Treasury to submit a support on Iranian assets and sanction exemptions.
The Indo-Pacific bill, to offer military aid to Taiwan against a fast-encroaching China, passed 385-34, with 34 Republicans voting against it and one Democrat, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Mich., voting 'present.'
President Joe Biden praised passage of the foreign aid package: 'Today, members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage.'
'It comes at a moment of grave urgency, with Israel facing unprecedented attacks from Iran, and Ukraine under continued bombardment from Russia,' he went on. 'I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs.'
The vote comes days after CIA Director Bill Burns warned that Ukraine would lose its war with Russia by the end of the year if the U.S. failed to send additional military support.
The weekend vote is expected to trigger
