U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) holds a press conference after the Senate passed a continuing resolution to avert a federal government shutdown, in Washington, U.S., November 15, 2023.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
Senators voted Sunday to move forward with a $95 billion aid package to finance Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, a positive sign that long-awaited foreign aid could have the votes to pass after a weekend of slow negotiations.
“I can’t remember the last time the Senate was in session on Super Bowl Sunday, but as I’ve said all week, we’re going to keep working on this bill until the job is done,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck. Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday at Senate floor.
Sunday’s vote, which passed with 67 votes in favor, is one of the last procedural hurdles before a final vote, making it a good sign that the $95 billion bill is headed for success after days of back-to-back talks.
“I think we’re going to pass this Ukraine spending bill. We’ve already cleared enough procedural hurdles that require 60 votes. I think there will be 60 votes in the end,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. , who has been a lead negotiator on the bill, said optimistically in an interview Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Starting Wednesday, lawmakers have been working through the Senate’s tedious process of spending hours on negotiations, followed by procedural votes and more negotiations. Those proceedings will likely continue into next week before a final vote takes place, cutting into a planned two-week recess for senators before federal budget talks begin.
If the vote had gone into the Super Bowl on Sunday, Schumer planned to arrange televisions and pizza at the Capitol, according to his spokesman.
The process could be sped up if all 100 senators unanimously agree to speed up the timeline, but Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has expressed his intention to delay.
“I’m not going to oppose the amendments, but I’m going to oppose the condensing of time,” Paul said Friday on NBC News. “They’re going to fight this for two or three more days, we’re going to beat the crap out of them because it’s about someone else’s border and not ours. And we’ll see where the cards lie.”
On Sunday, Paul estimated that at the current rate, the final vote would likely take place late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
A $118 billion version of the bill had already failed on the Senate floor last Wednesday.
That proposal contained border security provisions that Senate Republicans opposed, killing the deal. Republican opposition to $20 billion in border funding irked Senate negotiators who had been engaged in four months of talks to meet conservative demands for more border security provisions in President Joe Biden’s original aid proposal from October.
But hours after gutting the $118 billion bill, Schumer removed the border conditions and held another vote on a new version of the $95 billion, border-free bill to at least authorize foreign aid.
Some Republican senators remain unhappy with that compromise and have re-examined the necessity of the border security provisions, sparking political conflict.
“If we secure our borders here in the United States, I said … we should help Ukraine,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Reid., said in an interview with CNN on Sunday. “My problem is this: Before we do these things, we have to put Americans first again.”