Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will bring the Biden administration’s $106 billion national security funding request to the floor for a vote as early as next week, Schumer said in a Dear Colleague letter Sunday night.
“One of the most important tasks we must finish is taking up and passing a funding bill to ensure we as well as our friends and partners in Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region have the necessary military capabilities to confront and deter our adversaries and competitors,” he wrote.
The White House’s supplemental request, which was sent to Congress in October, includes $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion for Israel (with $10.6 billion allocated for military aid), $13.6 billion for some border security provisions, and significant investments in Indo-Pacific security assistance, totaling around $7.4 billion. Additionally, there’s $9 billion earmarked for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.
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But GOP lawmakers have thrown a wrench in plans to unanimously pass a supplemental that ties Ukraine and Israel aid together. Instead, they’ve argued for weeks that they should be split up and voted on separately.
Republicans in the upper chamber also reject the border provisions, as outlined, and argue its current form does not address much-needed policy changes like stricter asylum standards at the southern border. The supplemental request only proposes more money to speed up processing of migrants, but no policy reforms.
On Sunday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on Fox News that “in return for providing additional funding for Ukraine” there needs to be “significant and substantial reforms to our border policy.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have both signaled the GOP will pass more Ukraine funding if a deal is struck for tighter immigration laws.
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“The biggest holdup to the national security assistance package right now is the insistence by our Republican colleagues on partisan border policy as a condition for vital Ukraine aid. This has injected a decades old, hyper-partisan issue into overwhelmingly bipartisan priorities,” Schumer said in the letter.
Negotiations between Democrat and Republican senators continued over the Thanksgiving recess, Schumer said, and he urged GOP lawmakers to quickly “help push for a bipartisan path forward in the coming weeks.”
This week, Schumer also announced a classified all-senators briefing on the Ukraine-Russia war.
Schumer also hopes to pass hundreds of military promotions in the coming weeks through a resolution that would change the Senate’s rules to override Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s nine-month objection over the Pentagon’s abortion policy, calling the move “brazen and reckless.” Tuberville, R-Ala., has shown no signs of backing down.
“Senators should expect long days and nights, and potentially weekends in December,” he said.
Senators also have their work cut out for them in finalizing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), or the federal military spending package for the next fiscal year.
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Democrats in the upper chamber have a 51-49 majority and any legislation will need at least 60 votes to advance. Then, any agreement will need to pass the GOP-controlled House.
Earlier this month, Johnson attempted to push an Israel-only aid bill and deep IRS budget cuts through Congress, but Senate Democrats quickly shot that proposal down.
