With no guarantees House of Representatives Republicans will support bill, Democratic majority leader Schumer calls funding ‘a down payment for the survival of Western democracy’
The US Senate on Monday will attempt to steer a $95.34 billion package containing aid for Ukraine and Israel to passage, following months of delays, even as it lacked any guarantee that House of Representatives Republicans will support it.
The measure cleared an important procedural hurdle a day earlier in a 67-27 vote, with the support of 18 of the chamber’s 49 Republicans.
Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday was aiming to push it through two more procedural hurdles in order to put it on a path to passing on Wednesday.
“These are enormously high stakes of the national security package. Our security, our values, our democracy. It’s a down payment for the survival of Western democracy and the survival of Western values,” Schumer said on Monday after rare back-to-back Saturday and Sunday Senate sessions to work on the bill.
The US Senate on Monday will attempt to steer a $95.34 billion package containing aid for Ukraine and Israel to passage, following months of delays, even as it lacked any guarantee that House of Representatives Republicans will support it.
The measure cleared an important procedural hurdle a day earlier in a 67-27 vote, with the support of 18 of the chamber’s 49 Republicans. Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday was aiming to push it through two more procedural hurdles in order to put it on a path to passing on Wednesday.
“These are enormously high stakes of the national security package. Our security, our values, our democracy. It’s a down payment for the survival of Western democracy and the survival of Western values,” Schumer said on Monday after rare back-to-back Saturday and Sunday Senate sessions to work on the bill.
“The entire world is going to remember what the Senate does in the next few days,” he said.
US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has been urging Congress to hurry new aid to Ukraine and US partners in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, for months. Following Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack on Israel, he also requested funds for the US ally, along with humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.