Senate on track to pass $95 billion foreign aid package this week after months of delay
Originally Published: 23 APR 24 06:00 ET
Updated: 23 APR 24 11:20 ET
By Morgan Rimmer, Ted Barrett and Manu Raju, CNN
Washington (CNN) — The Senate will take up the House-passed $95 billion foreign aid package this week, as the legislation nears its final congressional action after both sides of Capitol Hill have struggled for months to send aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer implored his colleagues to pass the package Tuesday, urging senators to “not keep our friends around the world waiting for a moment longer.”
“The Senate convenes in a moment nearly six months in the making,” the Democrat from New York said. “A few days ago, the House of Representatives, at long last, approved essential National Security funding for Ukraine, for Israel, for the Indo Pacific, and further humanitarian assistance. Today is the Senate’s turn to act.”
The legislation ties together four bills that the House voted on separately in a rare Saturday session, providing nearly $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, over $26 billion for Israel and more than $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific. The first three bills are very similar to the package that the Senate passed earlier this year, which House Speaker Mike Johnson had originally refused to bring to the House floor.
The fourth bill increases sanctions on Russian assets and contains language that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the US. It gives Chinese parent company ByteDance roughly nine months to sell TikTok, or the app will be banned from American app stores.
The Senate begins with two procedural votes on Tuesday afternoon, interrupting a previously scheduled recess. While the chamber is expected to have enough support from both parties to pass the legislation, the exact timing for a final vote remains a question as any one senator can slow the process before sending the package to President Joe Biden for his signature, though it is expected to pass by midweek.
Senate leaders are trying to cut a deal allowing for a final vote sometime Tuesday, according to sources in both parties.
Asked if he expected the bill to pass Tuesday, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN: “Hope so.”
The House took up the legislation after Johnson bucked conservatives in his party who opposed sending aid to Ukraine and threatened to oust him over his handling of the issue. In the end, the legislation was sent out of the House by a broad bipartisan margin.
Aid for Ukraine and Israel has been stalled after House and Senate Republicans demanded action on border security first, leading to months of negotiations in the Senate on a border package tied to foreign aid. However, former President Donald Trump led the opposition to the final deal, and Republicans ultimately discarded it.
McConnell, who has consistently broken with his party over backing Ukraine, described Tuesday’s vote as “overdue” and “a test, and we must not fail it.”
“Here’s what I know to be true: American prosperity and security are the products of decades of American leadership,” McConnell said. “Our global interests come with global responsibilities. Healthy alliances lighten the burden of these responsibilities.”
The Senate’s votes Tuesday afternoon will set up a vote on final passage of the package no later than Wednesday night. Senators were supposed to be in recess this week, marking the Passover holiday, but they elected to return and wrap up work on the foreign aid package instead.
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.
The-CNN-Wire
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