The Senate on Wednesday failed a procedural vote to begin consideration of its $111 billion supplemental spending package with more aid for Ukraine and Israel, with the upper chamber now likely to work on border security items to gain additional Republican support for the legislation.
“Tonight is a sad night in the history of the Senate and in our country. Republicans just blocked a very much needed proposal to send funding for Ukraine, funding for Israel, humanitarian aid for innocent civilians in Gaza and funding for Indo-Pacific. If there’s a word for what we most need now, it is to be ‘serious.’ If Republicans in the Senate do not get serious very soon about a national security package, Vladimir Putin is going to walk right through Ukraine and right through Europe,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the floor following the 49-51 vote, which required 60 Senators’ approval to move forward on the bill.
The roadblock for the supplemental spending legislation arrives as the U.S. on Wednesday also announced a new weapons aid deal for Kyiv it said could be among the last packages if new funding is not approved.
“Unless Congress acts to pass the President’s national security supplemental funding request, this will be one of the last security assistance packages we can provide to Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Wednesday.
President Biden on Wednesday also pressed Congress to move forward on the spending package, which largely matches the $106 billion supplemental request his administration previously submitted to Congress, which follows the White House’s confirmation on Monday it will run out of money to continue assistance efforts for Ukraine by the end of the year without action to provide additional funds (Defense Daily, Dec. 4).
“This cannot wait. Congress needs to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday recess. It’s as simple as that,” Biden said. “Make no mistake: Today’s vote is going to be long remembered. And history is going to judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom’s cause. We can’t let Putin win. I’ll say it again: We can’t let Putin win. It’s in our overwhelming national interest and international interest of all our friends. Any disruption in our ability to supply Ukraine clearly strengthens Putin’s position. We’ve run out of money to be able to do that, in terms of authorization.”
Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on Tuesday there is “roughly $4.8 billion” remaining from the additional $6.2 billion in presidential drawdown authority (PDA) that the department discovered after it overestimated the value of earlier aid provided to Ukraine and $1.1 billion left to replenish stockpiles of U.S. equipment.
The new $175 million in security equipment for Ukraine announced on Wednesday, the 52nd such PDA package pulled from current Pentagon inventories, includes AIM-9M and AIM-7 missiles, more munitions for HIMARS launchers, TOW missiles, High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs), Javelin anti-tank weapons and more than 4 million rounds of small arms ammunition.
A $425 million weapons aid package announced in early November exhausted the remaining $300 million in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds the Pentagon utilizes to procure capabilities from industry to support Kyiv (Defense Daily, Nov. 3).
The Senate’s supplemental bill, unveiled on Tuesday evening, includes $15.1 billion to continue DoD efforts to support Ukraine with military training and intelligence sharing, $13.5 billion in additional USAI funds and $1.7 billion in Foreign Military Finance assistance “to address Ukraine’s and other regional partners’ air defense, artillery, maritime security, and maintenance and sustainment requirements,” according to a summary of the legislation.
Republicans are seeking immigration and border security policy changes in the bill, which is likely to be the focus of bipartisan negotiations following Wednesday’s failed vote.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Appropriations Committee, noted the bill currently includes “new investments to support cross-government efforts to stop fentanyl from coming into our country, modernize and improve detection capabilities” and “resources to meet operational needs at the southern border, humanely manage new encounters, reduce processing and adjudication backlogs, and support partner country efforts to improve integration and identify legal pathways for migrants in third countries.”
Following Hamas’ incursion on Oct. 7 and as the country pursues a ground invasion of Gaza, the Senate’s bill supports $10.6 billion for Israel, to include $4 billion for procurement of Iron Dome air defense system and David’s Sling short-range ballistic missile defense capabilities, $1.2 billion for Israel’s Iron Beam laser-based defense system, and $3.5 billion in FMF funds to purchase U.S.-made defense equipment.
The bill also includes $3 billion for submarine industrial base investments, over $2.8 billion to enhance the munitions industrial base’s production capacity and $2 billion in FMF funds for Indo-Pacific partners.
Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, told reporters on Tuesday the supplemental is key to ensuring the department has the appropriations in place to fulfill security assistance requirements for Taiwan, noting the FMF loans included in the package (Defense Daily, Dec. 5).
A summary of the bill notes over $43.6 billion would be invested into the U.S. defense industrial base, to include $24.25 billion to help replenish stockpiles of equipment provided to Ukraine and Israel.
“This bill meets the moment by providing critical funding for Ukraine, Israel, global humanitarian assistance, and our Southwest border. This bill ensures that we sustain our military readiness, while investing in our defense industrial base and creating jobs throughout the United States,” the White House writes in its statement of administration policy on the legislation.