US Senate Advances $40 Billion Ukraine Aid Package
The US Senate on Monday overwhelmingly advanced a $40 billion Ukraine aid package that easily passed the House last week but had stalled in the upper chamber because of an objection from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Senators voted 81 to 11 to end debate on a motion to proceed to the legislation, setting up a final vote on the bill for later in the week, The Hill reported.
It is an important test of Republican support for continued US humanitarian and military assistance for Ukraine after several prominent Republican voices, including former US President Donald Trump, questioned the size of the $40 billion packages.
Some Republicans, including Sen. Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), announced before the vote that they would not support it.
“I certainly don’t have anything against the Ukrainians. We want to see them win, but pumping more aid into that country when we’re not taking care of our own country — the best thing that (President Joe) Biden could do is stop the war that he’s waged on American industry,” Hagerty told Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” over the weekend.
Hagerty said, “I know that there are other senators that are thinking very hard about this right now.”
The assistance package passed with a large majority in the House by a vote of 368 to 57. Republicans made up all of the “no” votes.
The legislation had been somewhat delayed by debate among Democrats over whether to attach $10 billion in additional COVID-19 funding.