(AFP, Washington, 6th) U.S. Republican senators today blocked the White House’s $106 billion emergency aid request, mainly for Ukraine and Israel. Because the package package excludes the immigration reform measures they demand, Republican conservatives are unwilling to give up. The bill passed smoothly.
The vote was a serious setback for U.S. President Joe Biden, who warned Congress earlier today that even if Russian President Vladimir Putin wins in Ukraine, he will not stop and may even attack the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). )nation.
The package will include about $60 billion to help Ukraine continue to pressure Russia during the cold winter, and about $10 billion for Israel to deal with the conflict with the Palestinian armed group Hamas. Conflict, and some aid funds to Taiwan.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer originally promised to include border security measures requested by Republicans into the package when a vote is held later to secure the 60 votes needed to pass the first procedural hurdle.
However, the 49 Republicans in the minority in the 100-seat Senate voted collectively against advancing the plan, pointing out that about 10,000 immigrants enter from Mexico every day but the government has failed to take action.
“Everyone has made it very clear that we stand firm on this,” Sen. James Lankford, the leading Republican negotiator on immigration and the border, told Fox Business ahead of the vote. “We’re standing firm on the situation at the southern border. It’s completely out of control and it’s time to fix this.”
Biden has led a global coalition in support of authorities in Kiev, but support from congressional Republicans has eroded and the administration has warned that there will be no funds for more aid to Ukraine for weeks unless lawmakers act.
Progressives have been pressuring Biden to reject broad demands from conservatives on immigration that they say would amount to closing the border, but Biden said in an impassioned televised speech that he would accept “significant compromises.”
“This can’t wait,” Biden said. “Honestly, first of all, I think it’s shocking that we’ve gotten to this point and that congressional Republicans are willing to give Putin the biggest gift he could have ever wished for.”
Before delivering a televised speech, Biden had just held a video summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries to discuss how to strengthen Western aid to Ukraine.
Zelensky warned leaders at the meeting that Russia was counting on Western unity to “collapse” next year and said it had stepped up pressure on the front lines of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
However, prospects for passage of the aid package became apparent when several Republicans walked out of a classified Ukraine briefing for senators yesterday because border security was not discussed.
Zelensky was due to speak at the meeting via video link, but canceled at the last minute.
In the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Speaker Mike Johnson, who voted against aid to Ukraine before taking office, has stated that he will not agree to allocate more funds without “transformative” reforms to border policy.
Johnson, of Louisiana, also announced that any aid to Israel must be offset by spending cuts, a policy that Democrats, the White House and most Senate Republicans oppose.
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2023-12-07 02:44:07
