Senate looks to clear aid bill Tuesday night with no amendments

Sanders later said he’d been told he won’t get a vote on that amendment, which would strike $8.9 billion in military aid for Israel. He said he was “very disappointed, but not surprised” that the amendment would not be considered.

Sanders also sought an amendment that would remove a proposed funding ban against the United Nations agency that helps Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA. Lawmakers pushed for the ban after the Israeli government accused a dozen UNRWA employees of participating in the Oct. 7 attack that killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis.

“You do not deny humanitarian aid to millions of people because of the alleged (crimes) of 12 people out of a workforce of 30,000,” Sanders said.

But most if not all Democrats are considered likely to line up behind the aid package, which the House passed Saturday as four separate bills that have been bundled together.

The bigger challenge has been winning over Republicans. In February, a majority of Republicans — 26 of the 49 members — voted against an earlier version of the bill that the House declined to take up. Three Democratic caucus members, including Sanders, also voted no.

“The time has come to finish the job, to help our friends abroad once and for all,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor Tuesday. “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.”

Some GOP conservatives have opposed additional money for Ukraine, saying they see no endgame to the war against Russia and want European allies to carry more of the weight.

Some are also angry that the package offers nothing to better secure the U.S. southern border, although a bipartisan border compromise earlier this year fell apart after former President Donald Trump denounced it.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a stalwart supporter of Ukraine aid, urged his party again Tuesday to reject the populist, isolationist movement that has gained momentum in recent years.

“Will the Senate indulge the fantasy of pulling up a drawbridge?” McConnell asked on the floor. “Will we persist in the 21st century with an approach that failed in the 20th? Or will we dispense with the myth of isolationism and embrace reality?”

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