US Senate begins passage vote on Ukraine aid bill

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 —The Democratic-led US Senate began voting today on passage of a US$95.34 billion (RM454.4 billion) aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, amid growing doubts about the legislation’s fate in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

The lawmakers need to reach a 60-vote threshold to send the legislation on to the House. It was not clear how long the chamber would take to complete the pre-dawn vote.

Democratic President Joe Biden has been urging Congress to hurry the new aid to Ukraine and US partners in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, for months. After Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, he also requested funds for the US ally, along with humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.

Ukrainian officials have also warned of weapons shortages at a time when Russia is pressing ahead with renewed attacks.

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But both houses of Congress must approve the legislation before Biden can sign it into law.

The bill appears to face long odds of getting to the floor in the House, where Republican Speaker Mike Johnson faulted it for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the US-Mexico border.

“In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson said in a statement issued late on Monday.

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“America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo,” said Johnson, who has suggested in the past that the House could split the legislation into separate bills.

Senator John Thune, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, said it was not clear what Johnson would do.

“The House, I assume, is going to move on something. Obviously, they’re going to address Israel,” Thune said.

Hardline Republicans predicted that the Senate legislation would be dead on arrival in the House.

“The bill before us today ... will never pass in the House, will never become law,” Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida said in an early morning floor speech.

The legislation includes US$61 billion for Ukraine, US$14 billion for Israel in its war against Hamas and US$4.83 billion to support partners in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, and deter aggression by China.

It would also provide US$9.15 billion in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine and other conflict zones around the globe.

Republicans have demanded for months that the foreign aid bill include border restrictions.

But a bipartisan border deal, negotiated over the course of months, ran afoul of most Senate Republicans after it was rejected by Donald Trump, the party’s leading White House candidate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stripped the border security language from the bill last week.

Trump, who hopes to use the border issue to unseat Biden in the November election, has since turned his criticism on the foreign aid bill, saying on social media that aid to US allies should instead take the form of loans.

Aid to Ukraine faces powerful headwinds in the House, where Trump’s interests hold greater sway with Republicans who control the chamber by a thin majority. — Reuters