The Senate has voted to pass its $95.3 billion bill providing assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, while the foreign aid legislation faces precarious prospects in the House.
The early Tuesday morning Senate vote followed months of bipartisan negotiations over border security items that were ultimately removed from consideration, several days of floor debate and overnight filibustering from conservatives opposed to the legislation.
“The long-awaited passage of this support for our allies in Ukraine, Israel, and across the Indo-Pacific marks a significant victory in our shared efforts to combat tyranny, help Israel defend herself, and support the flow of humanitarian assistance globally. Be it the brave Ukrainians defending their nation against Russia’s invasion, our friends in Israel fighting Hamas terrorists, or our partners in the Indo-Pacific standing up to threats from the People’s Republic of China, this funding signifies our strong and ongoing commitment to our global allies and the values of trust and solidarity that define our nation’s role on the world stage,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.
The Senate last week failed to move forward on a negotiated border bill to accompany the foreign aid legislation, which drew opposition from some Republicans for not going far enough in restricting immigration measures and after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declared the bill “dead on arrival” if it was sent to the House (Defense Daily, Feb. 7).
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced the backup, slimmed-down $95.3 billion bill with foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific partners but no border items last Wednesday, which also excludes nearly $800 million in border security technology previously in the supplemental measure.
“The political entrenchment and partisan brinkmanship that characterized the debate over this legislation led to significant delays in delivering aid to our allies and a host of missed opportunities,” Cardin said.
The legislation, which moves forward months after the Biden administration first detailed its supplemental request, includes $60 billion to continue supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel, $2.4 billion to support operations in U.S. Central Command and $4.8 billion to deter Chinese aggression and support Indo-Pacific partners, including Taiwan.
The Senate ultimately approved its foreign aid legislation with a 70-29 vote, with 22 GOP lawmakers supporting the legislation, a number that grew from earlier procedural votes.
The 29 votes against the legislation were cast by Republicans and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), with the latter group having noted their objections to the bill’s inclusion of unconditional military aid for Israel and concerns over the large number of civilian casualties in Gaza.
“$10 billion of this money is totally unrestricted and will allow [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu to buy more of the bombs he has used to flatten Gaza and kill tens of thousands of innocent people. This is really quite unbelievable – does the United States Congress really want to provide more military aid to Netanyahu so that he can annihilate thousands and thousands more innocent men, women, and children? Do we really want to reward Netanyahu, even while he ignores virtually everything the President of the United States is asking him to do?” Sanders said in floor remarks following the bill’s introduction last week.
Ahead of the Senate’s vote, Speaker Johnson reiterated his opposition to the legislation and its lack of border security provisions, signaling he’s unlikely to bring it to the House floor for consideration.
“Instead, the Senate’s foreign aid bill is silent on the most pressing issue facing the country,” Johnson said. “The mandate of national security supplemental legislation was to secure America’s own border before sending additional foreign aid around the world. It is what the American people demand and deserve. Now, in the absence of having received a single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters. America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”
While the supplemental’s path forward in the lower chamber is unclear, there has been suggestion that House Democrats could convince a number of their GOP colleagues to support a discharge petition that would force floor consideration of the bill.
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh implored the House to “act urgently” on the supplemental, noting the U.S. has been unable to provide a weapons aid package for Ukraine since December 27.
“As you can imagine, we are a planning organization, so this building and the interagency is ready and working to provide Ukraine what it needs when we have that authority. But I don’t have a package to preview today,” Singh told reporters on Tuesday. “As soon as we get this supplemental package passed in the House, [Ukraine] will continue to see aid flowing to them.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, and several other Senate Republicans have sought to garner increased GOP support by noting 75 percent of the bill’s funding “would support domestic manufacturing jobs.”
“This supplemental defense bill is about America: building American manufacturing capacity and modernizing American military capabilities. This critical legislation injects much needed investment into our defense industrial base, replenishes American stockpiles with new and better equipment, and provides American-made equipment to our partners and allies fighting for freedom,” Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO Eric Fanning said in a statement on Tuesday.
The $48.4 billion for Ukraine in the Senate’s supplemental bill specifically includes $13.8 billion in additional Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds to purchase U.S.-made weapons for Kyiv, $19.9 billion to replenish stockpiles of U.S. equipment sent to Ukraine, $1.6 billion in Foreign Military Finance (FMF) assistance “to address Ukraine’s and other regional partners’ air defense, artillery, maritime security, and maintenance and sustainment requirements,” and $14.8 billion to continue DoD efforts to support Ukraine with military training and intelligence sharing.
Following Hamas’ incursion on Oct. 7 and as the country continues its military campaign in 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 $3.3 billion for submarine industrial base investments, $2 billion in FMF funds for Indo-Pacific partners, including Taiwan, $1.9 billion to replenish stockpiles of U.S. equipment provided to Taiwan and $2.4 billion to support “U.S. operations in the U.S. Central Command area of operations and to replace combat expenditures for weapons in the Red Sea.”