EBN- Senate has voted to prevent a bill to provide a $105 billion national security finding to Ukraine and Israel over a lack of border provisions in the measure.
The Senate vote Wednesday was to allow debate on the package to begin. Republicans have conditioned any support for the package on overhauls to US border policies.
Biden accused “extreme Republicans” of “playing chicken with our national security. He also held Ukraine’s funding hostage to their extreme partisan border policies.”
“Let me be clear: We need real solutions. I support real solutions at the border,” he said hours before Wednesday evening’s vote.
“Republicans think they can get everything they want without any bipartisan compromise. That’s not the answer. That’s not the answer. And now they’re willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process,” he added.
The fate of the spending package is now unclear.
Congress has previously approved about $111 billion in funding for Ukraine’s war effort since Russia invaded in February 2022, paying for the transfer and purchase of badly needed armaments. The White House has raised alarm that the funding is near complete exhaustion.
The House of Representatives passed in November a standalone approving the additional funding for Israel, but Democrats blocked the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act in the Senate.
