U.S.
Senate
Majority
Leader
Chuck
Schumer
(D-NY)
holds
a
press
conference
after
the
Senate
passed
a
continuing
resolution
to
avoid
a
shutdown
of
the
federal
government,
in
Washington,
U.S.,
November
15,
2023.
Elizabeth
Frantz
|
Reuters
Senators
on
Sunday
voted
to
move
forward
with
a
$95
billion
aid
package
to
fund
Ukraine,
Israel
and
Taiwan,
a
positive
sign
that
the
long-awaited
foreign
aid
could
have
the
votes
to
pass
after
a
weekend
of
slow-going
negotiations.
“I
can’t
remember
the
last
time
the
Senate
was
in
session
on
Super
Bowl
Sunday,
but
as
I’ve
said
all
week
long,
we’re
going
to
keep
working
on
this
bill
until
the
job
is
done,”
Senate
Majority
Leader
Chuck
Schumer,
D-N.Y.,
said
Sunday
on
the
Senate
floor.
Sunday’s
vote,
which
passed
with
67
votes
in
favor,
is
one
of
the
last
procedural
hurdles
before
a
final
vote,
making
it
a
good
indicator
that
the
$95
billion
bill
is
headed
for
success
after
days
of
back-and-forth
talks.
“I
think
we’re
going
to
pass
this
spending
bill
for
Ukraine.
We’ve
already
moved
past
several
procedural
hurdles
that
require
60
votes.
I
think
there
will
be
60
votes
in
the
end,”
Sen.
Chris
Murphy,
D-Conn.,
who
has
been
a
lead
negotiator
on
the
bill,
said
optimistically
in
a
Sunday
interview
on
CBS’
“Face
the
Nation.”
Since
Wednesday,
lawmakers
have
been
working
the
tedious
Senate
process
of
spending
hours
in
negotiations,
followed
by
procedural
votes
and
more
negotiation.
These
proceedings
will
likely
carry
into
next
week
before
a
final
vote
is
held,
which
cuts
into
senators’
scheduled
two-week
recess
before
federal
budget
talks
begin.
If
voting
had
bled
into
the
Super
Bowl
on
Sunday,
Schumer
planned
to
arrange
for
televisions
and
pizza
on
Capitol
Hill,
according
to
his
spokesperson.
The
process
could
be
accelerated
if
all
100
senators
unanimously
agree
to
speed
up
the
timeframe,
but
Sen.
Rand
Paul,
R-Ky.,
has
been
vocal
about
his
intention
to
delay.
“I’m
not
gonna
object
to
the
amendments,
but
I’m
going
to
object
to
condensing
time,”
Paul
told
NBC
News
on
Friday.
“They’ll
struggle
through
this
for
two
or
three
more
days,
we’re
going
to
beat
the
crap
out
of
them
for
being
for
someone
else’s
border
and
not
our
own.
And
we’ll
see
where
the
cards
lay.”
On
Sunday,
Paul
estimated
that
at
the
going
pace,
the
final
vote
would
likely
take
place
late
Tuesday
or
early
Wednesday.
A
$118
billion
version
of
the
bill
already
failed
on
the
Senate
floor
last
Wednesday.
Ukraine
sympathizers
fly
a
Ukrainian
flag
outside
as
the
Senate
works
through
the
weekend
on
a
$95.3
billion
foreign
aid
bill
with
assistance
for
Ukraine
and
Israel
at
the
U.S.
Capitol
on
February
11,
2024
in
Washington,
DC.
Roberto
Schmidt
|
Getty
Images
That
proposal
had
border
security
provisions
that
Senate
Republicans
opposed,
leading
them
to
tank
the
deal.
Republican
opposition
to
the
$20
billion
of
border
funding
irked
senate
negotiators
who
had
engaged
in
four
months
of
talks
to
satisfy
conservative
demands
for
more
border
security
terms
in
President
Joe
Biden’s
initial
aid
proposal
from
October.
Still,
hours
after
the
$118
billion
bill
was
killed,
Schumer
stripped
out
the
border
terms
and
held
another
vote
on
a
new
$95
billion,
no-border
version
of
the
bill
to
at
least
get
the
foreign
aid
passed.
Some
Republican
senators
are
still
dissatisfied
with
that
compromise
and
have
revisited
the
necessity
of
border
security
provisions,
causing
political
whiplash.
“If
we
secure
our
own
border
here
in
the
United
States,
I’ve
said
…
we
should
help
Ukraine,”
Sen.
Marco
Rubio,
R-Fla.,
said
in
a
CNN
interview
on
Sunday.
“My
problem
is
this:
Before
we
do
these
things
we
have
to
make
Americans
a
priority
again.”
