Senate regroups after dramatic collapse of border deal with Schumer backup plan

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) intends to hold a vote Wednesday on an Israel and Ukraine aid package stripped of a bipartisan border security deal that Republicans rejected.

First, Schumer plans to hold a procedural vote on the legislation that includes funding for Ukraine, Israel, and the border security provisions, a political move to give battleground state Democrats the chance to vote for it and argue that they tried to fix the crisis at the border but that it was blocked by Republicans.

Then, a vote is expected on much narrower legislation on the floor without the border security provisions that would include funding for Israel, Ukraine, and the Indo-Pacific region. The second version of the bill will still include provisions targeting fentanyl trafficking, which was part of the immigration deal.

The bill includes more than $60 billion for Ukraine to fight off Russia’s invasion, $14.1 billion in security assistance to Israel, $10 billion in humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Ukraine, $4.8 billion to help Taiwan and Indo-Pacific allies, and an additional $2.4 billion to support U.S. Central Command operations in the Red Sea, according to details from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Schumer told reporters that there would be a “fair and open amendment process” on the foreign aid bill. He also said he believes the 60-vote procedural motion to move the supplemental without the border portion will advance. 

“First, Republicans said they would only do Ukraine and Israel and humanitarian aid with border. Then, they said they would not do it with border. Well, we’re going to give them both options,” Schumer said Wednesday morning.

Senate Republicans are deliberating whether they will support advancing the foreign aid bill without border security.

“The key to all this is going to be a process, and we’re trying to determine whether or not Schumer will allow amendment votes,” said Sen. John Thune (R-SD), speaking with reporters on Wednesday morning. “We have a number of our members who are for the elements of the package if you strike the border piece.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who initially supported the border bill that was negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and Chris Murphy (D-CT), said he could support a vote on the foreign aid portion of the bill without the border provisions during a press conference on Tuesday.

“There are other parts of this supplemental that’re extremely important as well: Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan,” McConnell said. “We still, in my view, ought to tackle the rest of it because it’s important. Not that the border isn’t important, but we can’t get an outcome. So, that’s where I think we ought to head.”

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In a dramatic turn of events, McConnell recommended to Republican senators in a closed-door meeting on Monday night that they vote against a procedural step toward advancing the legislation, which was unveiled by a working group on Sunday.  

A large portion of the Republican conference rejected the larger bill because it wants more restrictive immigration policies in exchange for approving Ukraine aid, and former President Donald Trump lobbied against the bill.

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