Staff Reports
A controversial bill that combined foreign military aid with a plan for border security came up for a vote in the Senate on Wednesday. As expected, past President Donald Trump was very against the bill. In the end, it didn't pass by a vote of 49 to 50. The bill was opposed by Mitch McConnell and other Republicans in the Senate. However, The Washington Post stated that Republican Senators James Lankford, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney went against their party's line and backed the bill.
JUST IN — Senate rejects $118 billion Ukraine-Israel border bill in a 50-49 vote. pic.twitter.com/IDLpifT4vL
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 7, 2024
After the vote, there was a lot of anger, especially among senators like Murkowski who spoke out against those who didn't support the bill. In a rant, Murkowski said, "I have a hard time understanding again how anyone else in the future is going to want to be on that negotiating team — on anything — if we are going to be against it." I've been through all the different stages of grief. I'm just mad today."
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, said he was against the bill because he thought it didn't do enough to address border security issues and seemed to support President Joe Biden's policy of "open borders." In the same way, Senator John Cornyn of Texas doubted the Biden administration's resolve to enforce border rules.
In the past few months, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley has called the bill's handling and overall leadership a "total disaster." At the same time, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina stressed how important it was to deal with other urgent problems, like what was happening in Ukraine and Israel.
The bill asked for $118.3 billion in funds, with $60 billion going to NATO to help Ukraine with its military, $14.1 billion to help Israel with its military, and $20 million to keep the borders safe. It also laid out the rules for closing the border based on certain encounter levels. Even with these rules, the vote's result shows that border security and foreign military aid are still being debated.
