The United State Senate overwhelmingly passed a legislative package to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and allies in the Indo-Pacific faces additional hurdles as House Speaker Mike Johnson announced he would not put the bill to the floor.
According to a report obtained from the Independent UK, the package includes $60.6bn in aid to Ukraine; $14.1bn in aid to Israel after to assist with its war against Hamas after the October 7 attack; $2.44bn for US Central Command to address combat expenditures for conflict in the Red Sea; $9.15bn in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza; and $4.83bn to support regional partners in the Indo-Pacific to push back against the People’s Republic of China
Only 29 senators voted against the bill, with 70 Republicans voting for it.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky led the charge against the $95.34bn package as a host of Republican senators spoke on the floor late into the night on Monday evening.
The legislation came after Senate Republicans rejected a larger package that would have included additional provisions to restrict immigration and increase security at the US-Mexico border. Democratic senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut; independent senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Republican senator James Lankford of Oklahoma negotiated the agreement that the House and many Republicans opposed as insufficient.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson released a statement announcing that he would not bring the bill to the floor.
“Now, 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,” he said. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”
The remarks come after Senate Republicans have drawn out the process for passing the aid package throughout the weekend. Mr Paul praised Mr Johnson’s remarks.
“I think that’s very supportive,” he told The Independent. “And I think our filibuster helped to slow things down.”
During his speech on the floor, Mr Paul spoke about Ukrainian corruption. But earlier in the night, senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina – who initially took part in the negotiations with the bipartisan immigration-foreign aid bill before he voted against it – criticised the Republicans.
“A lot of people, when they hear senator speak, they believe that it’s the truth,” he told The Independent. “They’ve heard somebody say that if we pass this bill that we’re all gonna go right to key with buckets full of money, and let oligarchs buy yachts. I wonder how the spouses of the estimated 25,000 soldiers in Ukraine who have died feel about that?”
Senator John Cornyn of Texas told The Independent that he hoped that the House “will take up their own bill” and “work its will and that’s the way the system is supposed to.”
Other senators took alternative routes. At one point, senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of the most ardent opponents of aid to Ukraine, joined an X space with the site’s owner Elon Musk, who has criticised US support for Ukraine.
