Senate Republicans Block Ukraine Aid, Border Security Package They’d Demanded

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked laws that paired harder border coverage with extra U.S. assist to Ukraine and Israel, simply days after it was unveiled by a bipartisan group of senators who spent months negotiating with the backing of the GOP.

The movement fell effectively wanting the 60 votes wanted to advance, with solely 4 Republican senators voting with Democrats to open debate on the invoice: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, and James Lankford of Oklahoma.

For months, Senate Republicans demanded border coverage adjustments to unravel what they known as a migrant disaster on the U.S.-Mexico border in alternate for passage of extra U.S. assist to Ukraine. But they buckled and got here out towards the invoice this week after weeks of heavy stress from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

Lankford, the GOP creator of the invoice, mentioned Wednesday that an unnamed media character even promised to “destroy” him for searching for a bipartisan compromise on immigration.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who helped negotiate the bundle, may barely comprise her anger at her GOP colleagues who voted to filibuster the invoice Wednesday.

“After all those trips to the desert, after all those press conferences, it turns out this crisis isn’t much of a crisis after all,” Sinema deadpanned. “Sunday morning, it’s a real crisis. Monday morning, the crisis magically disappeared.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who negotiated the border deal alongside Sinema and Lankford, additionally blasted Republicans for bowing to stress from Trump.

“We achieved what almost everyone said was impossible — the first serious bipartisan border compromise in a decade,” Murphy mentioned. “Republicans asked for this, and yet within 24 hours, they backed down because Donald Trump told them to preserve chaos at the border, because he thinks it helps him politically.”

Immediately after the vote on the Ukraine and border bundle failed Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) moved to carry up a invoice that features solely U.S. assist to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — with out the border deal that Republicans derided.

It’s not clear, nonetheless, if sufficient Republicans will vote to advance that laws both. Some GOP senators mentioned that they wished an settlement from Schumer to permit votes on amendments pertaining to the border earlier than they vote to open debate on the second measure, despite the fact that that they had simply voted to kill the bipartisan border deal minutes earlier. The movement to advance the U.S. international assist bundle with out border provisions would additionally require 60 votes to maneuver ahead.

“It would be an embarrassment for our country — and an absolute nightmare for the Republican Party — if they reject national security funding twice in one day,” Schumer mentioned in a ground speech. “Today is the day for Republicans to do the right thing when it comes to our national security.”

This is a creating story. Please examine again for updates.