Schumer says Senate should ‘finish the job’ with foreign aid vote
In brief remarks on the Senate floor, the Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, called for lawmakers to pass the foreign aid bill “as expeditiously as possible”.
“The time has come to finish the job to help our friends abroad once and for all,” the New Yorker said. He continued:
I ask my colleagues to join together to pass the supplemental today as expeditiously as possible, send our friends abroad the aid they have long been waiting for.
Let us not delay this. Let us not prolong this. Let us not keep out friends around the world waiting for a moment longer.
He noted that voting will begin at 1pm, starting with a procedural vote and then a motion to invoke cloture.
Key events
The Senate’s procedural vote on the foreign aid bill is being delayed by Republicans complaining they can’t offer amendments to it.
Eric Schmitt, of Missouri, and Utah’s Mike Lee, are accusing Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer of effectively railroading through his version the bill “with minimal debate and perhaps no amendments,” Lee said.
He insists, as extremist House Republicans who opposed the bill last week did, that money for Ukraine is unpopular.
Bernie Sanders, independent senator for Vermont, says he agrees with Lee.
He says he wants to offer two amendments, one to ensure there’s no money for Israel’s “war machine”. The second is removing a block on aid money for the United Nations relief and works agency (UNWRA), which Israel says has been infiltrated by “Hamas terrorists” stealing funds.
“Members can agree with me or disagree with me on the issues, but they should be voted upon,” Sanders said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will visit Saudi Arabia this weekend in pursuit of the Biden administration’s ambitious goal of helping to restore that nation’s relations with Israel, Axios reports.
He’ll be attending the special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh on Sunday, and meeting the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and other regional leaders, the outlet said.
Axios, citing US officials, adds that Blinken “is considering” visiting Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as part of his trip, but has not yet finalized an itinerary.
Senators are inching towards a procedural vote on the $95.3bn foreign aid package, expected close to the top of the hour.
Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly has just been on the chamber floor, lamenting that it took so long for Congress to pass a bill he said 71% of members ultimately voted for.
“Because of delays, Ukraine’s fighters are desperately low [on weapons and ammunition],” he said.
“That’s tying the hands of their commanders at the same time Russia is revitalizing its war effort.”
But, he says, “Ukraine can win this war. Passing this bill will allow the transfer to them more of what Ukraine needs to turn the tide.”
Republican Maine senator Susan Collins concurs. “[This is] a volatile and dangerous time in world history,” she says:
If [Russia’s president Vladimir] Putin is allowed to succeed in Ukraine, he will continue to pursue his goal of recreating the Soviet Union. He’s made no bones about that.
She fears Moldova, Georgia, the Baltic nations and Poland are in Putin’s sights.
“Then our troops would be involved in a much larger war,” she says.
The day so far
The Senate will soon begin voting on a $95bn foreign aid bill for Israel, Ukraine and other US allies, ending months of negotiations over one of Joe Biden’s top priorities and giving Kyiv another lifeline in its defense against Russia’s invasion. But the drama isn’t over yet. Independent senator Bernie Sanders has vowed to offer amendments stripping from the bill funds to send Israel weapons, while Republicans opposed to arming Ukraine may make their own stand. Voting begins at 1pm with a procedural motion. Meanwhile, GOP senators are calling on the Biden administration to step in to break up pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses, including New York University and Yale University.
Here’s what else is going on today:
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The US plans to ship $1b in weapons to Ukraine that can be quickly deployed on the battlefield once the foreign aid bill passes.
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Donald Trump’s trial on charges of falsifying business records is continuing in New York City, with testimony from former Nation Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
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Republican House speaker Mike Johnson took a risk by allowing the chamber to pass the bill funding Ukraine’s defense, but Trump continued to praise him, raising his chances of keeping his job.
Republican senators demand Biden administration ‘restore order’ on campuses hit by pro-Palestinian protests
Twenty-five Republican senators have demanded that the Biden administration send federal law enforcement to respond to college campuses where pro-Palestinian protests have occurred, and called the demonstrators “anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist mobs”.
“The Department of Education and federal law enforcement must act immediately to restore order, prosecute the mobs who have perpetuated violence and threats against Jewish students, revoke the visas of all foreign nationals (such as exchange students) who have taken part in promoting terrorism, and hold accountable school administrators who have stood by instead of protecting their students,” the group wrote in a letter addressed to the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, and the education secretary, Miguel Cardona.
Among the signatories is the party’s Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, and his deputy, John Thune. Josh Hawley, the Missouri senator who separately demanded the president deploy national guard troops to college campuses, also signed the letter.
Here’s more on the campus protests:
Speaking of Donald Trump, what’s he up to today?
The answer is sitting in a New York City courtroom where he is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments before his 2016 election victory. On the witness stand now is David Pecker, a former ally and longtime publisher of the National Enquirer.
We’re blogging his testimony live, and you can follow it here:
That the House passed the foreign aid bill is somewhat of a surprise. Anti-Ukraine sentiment is rife and growing among the Republicans who hold a slim majority in that chamber, and speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to put the foreign aid bill up for a vote – and passing it with the help of more Democrats than Republicans – puts him in peril of losing his job. But though Donald Trump counts himself as a skeptic of funding Kyiv’s defenses, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports that he recently praised Johnson – a bad sign for the nascent attempt to remove the speaker:
Mike Johnson is a “good person” and is “trying very hard”, Donald Trump said, after the US House speaker oversaw passage of military aid to Ukraine, long opposed by Trump, in the face of fierce opposition from the right of the Republican party.
“Well, look, we have a majority of one, OK?” Trump said in a radio interview on Monday night, after a day in court in his New York hush-money trial.
“It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do,” Trump said of Johnson. “I think he’s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me on Nato when I said Nato has to pay up … I think he’s a very good man. I think he’s trying very hard. And again, we’ve got to have a big election.”
Johnson faces opposition from rightwingers in his party, in particular from Marjorie Taylor Greene, a fervent Trump ally who has threatened to trigger a motion to vacate, the mechanism by which a speaker can be removed, and called for Johnson to quit.
No less than 112 House Republicans voted against Ukraine aid, leaving Johnson reliant on Democratic support. A similar scenario saw his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, removed last year, but with an election looming, many see Johnson as safe for now.
US plans to quickly ship $1b to Ukraine once aid bill passes
The United States will send $1b in weapons to Ukraine once the foreign aid bill is approved by Congress and signed by Joe Biden, with an emphasis on munitions that can quickly be deployed on the battlefield, Reuters reports.
The weapons will arrive in Ukraine amid warnings of a looming offensive by Russia, which has made some gains on the battlefield in recent months.
Citing US officials, Reuters reports the weapons to be delivered will include Stinger air defense munitions, vehicles, anti-tank munitions and ammunition for artillery systems the United States has already provided.
Just what exactly is in the foreign aid package the Senate is expected to approve later today? The Guardian’s Yang Tian breaks down the massive bill:
The US House of Representatives has approved $95bn in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies in a rare Saturday session as Democrats and Republicans banded together after months of hard-right resistance over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion.
With an overwhelming vote, the $61bn in aid for Ukraine passed in a matter of minutes, a strong showing as American lawmakers race to deliver a fresh round of US support to the war-torn ally. Many Democrats cheered on the House floor and waved Ukraine flags.
The speaker, Mike Johnson, who helped marshal the package to passage, said after the vote: “We did our work here, and I think history will judge it well.”
Schumer says Senate should ‘finish the job’ with foreign aid vote
In brief remarks on the Senate floor, the Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, called for lawmakers to pass the foreign aid bill “as expeditiously as possible”.
“The time has come to finish the job to help our friends abroad once and for all,” the New Yorker said. He continued:
I ask my colleagues to join together to pass the supplemental today as expeditiously as possible, send our friends abroad the aid they have long been waiting for.
Let us not delay this. Let us not prolong this. Let us not keep out friends around the world waiting for a moment longer.
He noted that voting will begin at 1pm, starting with a procedural vote and then a motion to invoke cloture.
Top Senate Republican McConnell calls foreign aid vote ‘a test of American resolve’
In remarks on the Senate floor, the chamber’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said today’s vote on the foreign aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies was “a test” of America’s leadership on the global stage.
“Today, the Senate sits for a test on behalf of the entire nation. It is a test of American resolve, our readiness and our willingness to lead, and the stakes of failure are abundantly clear,” McConnell said.
“Failure to help Ukraine stand against Russian aggression now means inviting escalation against our closest treaty allies and trading partners. It means greater risk that American forces would become involved in conflict.”
While conservative Republicans, many of whom are in the House, oppose further aid to Ukraine, McConnell has been a steadfast ally of Kyiv. That created a rift with the House speaker, Mike Johnson, until he relented last week and allowed Congress’s lower chamber to approve the military aid package the Senate will vote on later today.
GOP senator demands Biden deploy national guard against pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses
Republican senator Josh Hawley has asked Joe Biden to deploy the national guard against pro-Palestinian protesters at college campuses, accusing them of “shocking displays of antisemitism”.
The protests at New York University and Yale University in Connecticut have resulted in dozens of arrests. In his letter, Hawley, who represents Missouri and was one of the most prominent backers in the Senate of Donald Trump’s baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 election, warned : “On college campuses across the United States, Jewish Americans are at risk.”
At Columbia, Hawley said that “demonstrators have illegally established a ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ on the university’s campus and engaged in shocking displays of antisemitism – assaults on Jewish students, the theft and attempted burning of an Israeli flag, and violent, genocidal rhetoric”.
He likened deploying the national guard to actions taken during school desegregation in the south decades ago:
In 1957, pursuant to Executive Order 10730, President Dwight Eisenhower deployed the national guard and 101st airborne division to ensure the safety of black students attending Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. I urge you to similarly mobilize the national guard and other necessary authorities to protect Jewish American students on Columbia University’s campus, and any other campus where Jewish students are at risk. ‘Never again’ means never again.
Beyond Congress, opposition to Israel’s invasion of Gaza has intensified on several college campuses, where police were called in to make dozens of arrests. Here’s more on the demonstrations, from the Guardian’s Erum Salam:
Police arrested dozens of people at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan, as student protests over Israel’s war in Gaza continue to roil US campuses.
On the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut, authorities arrested at least 47 protesters on Monday evening, the university said in a statement. Students who were arrested will be referred for disciplinary action.
The police crackdowns came after Columbia University canceled in-person classes on Monday in response to protesters setting up tent encampments at its New York City campus last week.
Several hundred people had been protesting on the Yale university campus, demanding the university divest from military weapons manufacturers. Yale said it had repeatedly asked students to leave, and warned them they could face law enforcement and disciplinary action if they didn’t.
Sanders seeks to strip funding for Israel’s ‘offensive military’ operations from foreign aid bill
Much has changed since October, when Joe Biden first proposed pairing another round of military assistance to Ukraine with new aid to Israel, as well as other American allies. Many of the president’s allies are today in open revolt over his support for the country’s invasion of Gaza, which Biden has continued even as he has publicly worried over its humanitarian impact and called for a ceasefire.
The foreign aid bill that Senate is expected to approve today will include about $4.4bn to replenish depleted US supplies given to Israel, $3.5bn to help Israel buy weapons, and more than $5bn for its missile defense systems. It will also make it easier for Israel to buy US weapons from other countries.
Independent senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive who caucuses with the Democrats, plans to make a stand against that funding by offering an amendment that would strip the aid for offensive weapons from the package. Here’s what the Vermont lawmaker had to say:
I look forward to offering amendments tomorrow to cut billions in offensive military funding to Israel from the proposed national security supplemental package and protect essential humanitarian operations. The Senate should have a chance to debate and vote on the key components of such a massive package.
In poll after poll, Americans have showed their increasing disgust for Netanyahu’s war machine and the humanitarian disaster it has caused in Gaza.
Enough is enough. We cannot continue to fund this horrific war.
Ukraine, Israel aid, TikTok ban saga nears end as Senate plans vote
Good morning, US politics blog readers. The long and winding road of Joe Biden’s proposal to send tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and other US allies may finally reach its conclusion today. Beginning at 1pm ET, the Senate is set to vote on a bill approved by the House of Representatives last week that authorizes the assistance – and forces TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest from the social media app in a year, or face a nationwide ban. The legislation is expected to pass, but not without some drama – independent senator Bernie Sanders says he will offer amendments to cut funding for Israel’s offensive operations, citing the humanitarian impact of its invasion of Gaza, and you may see other amendments offered by Republicans wary of backing Kyiv.
Assuming none of the amendments manage to stall its progress, and the bill makes it through the Senate, today will cap an odyssey that began in October when Joe Biden paired another round of funding for Ukraine’s defense against Russia with aid for Israel that he said was necessary in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack. For months, the bill had no clear path to passage, largely due to Republican resistance to funding Ukraine, and their demands for strict border security measures. But that resistance crumbled last week when House speaker Mike Johnson decided to allow a vote on the aid despite not getting the immigration changes he wanted, handing Biden and Ukraine’s supporters in the GOP, notably top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, an important foreign policy victory. We’ll let you know how it’s looking as the Senate convenes later today.
Here’s what else is going on:
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Biden is heading to Tampa, Florida, to campaign in a state he hopes to win in November, even though it hasn’t voted for a Democratic president since 2012. The president will condemn the state’s six-week abortion ban, which takes effect next week.
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Primaries are happening all over the country today, including in Pennsylvania, where progressive Democrat Summer Lee faces a challenger backed by a pro-Israel group.
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Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan continues, with judge Juan Merchan considering whether the former president violated a gag order. Follow our live blog for more.
