Senate Republicans block Biden's bill for aid to Ukraine and Israel
GOP senators assured that they will not approve a national security proposal that does not include strict measures to secure the border.
Joe Biden / Cordon Press.
This Wednesday, Senate Republicans blocked the bill with which President Joe Biden hoped to provide millions of dollars in emergency aid, mainly aimed at Ukraine and Israel.
The bill, which mirrored the request issued by Biden, needed sixty votes to pass. However, the proposal only obtained 49 approving votes, as all Republicans opposed it and highlighted that the project did not meet the condition of implementing stricter measures to secure the border.
“Republicans have made it clear to the White House and Senate Democrats: a national security supplemental must include substantive U.S. border policy,” said Senator Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma.
The vote represents a significant setback for President Biden, who, before the vote, urged the Senate to pass the bill, highlighting that failure to do so would benefit Vladimir Putin in the conflict with Ukraine.
“Congress needs to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the Holiday recess. Failing to do that risks giving Putin the greatest gift he could ever hope for and abandoning our global leadership,” Biden said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also called for unity to counter Putin’s actions and warned against the perception in Moscow of the possible weakness of Western support for Ukraine.
However, the arguments presented by Biden and Zelensky failed to persuade Senate Republicans, who insisted that the border crisis is a national security issue that must be considered a priority.
The GOP senators even recalled that the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, said last Tuesday that he had never seen the country face so many risks or threats of terrorist attacks as now, and all this while “hundreds of terrorists pour across” the border.
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