By Frank Thorp V, Julie Tsirkin and Summer Concepcion —
NBC
The Senate, controlled by Democrats, is scheduled to vote this Wednesday on an aid package for Israel and Ukraine, already stripped of the bipartisan immigration reform that Republicans threatened to block, according to what Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told his colleagues and could confirm NBC News by a Democratic adviser.
If the procedural motion gets at least 60 votes, the plan (which also includes assistance to Taiwan) could be voted on later this week.
The Senate will also vote on the package that includes immigration reform, valued at $118 billion, despite the fact that it seems unlikely to be approved and would in any case die in the House of Representatives, controlled by the Republicans.
Schumer, at the Capitol on January 31, 2024.J.
Scott Applewhite/AP
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who supported the border security bill negotiated by a group of senators from his party with Democrats, expressed support Tuesday
for a vote on the supplemental aid
without the provisions border during a press conference.
“There are other parts that are also extremely important: Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan,” McConnell said, “still, in my opinion, we should address the rest because it is important.
It's not that the border isn't, but we can't reach an agreement.
So that's where I think we should be heading, and it's up to Schumer how to repackage this, if in fact we don't go ahead with it."
[Senators unveil bipartisan proposal to impose stricter asylum and border security laws]
The other version of the bill will continue to include provisions against fentanyl trafficking, the Democratic advisor said.
Less than 48 hours after the text of the bipartisan border security bill was released Sunday, Republican senators made it clear that the legislation had no viable path forward.
Former President Donald Trump criticized it as a “terrible bill.”
The leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, quickly declared his opposition to the measure, specifying that she would be “dead” if he reached the House.
The House on Tuesday rejected another bill to provide aid to Israel, amid congressional infighting over immigration reform.
The House vote (250-180) fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the bill.
Johnson announced the vote on the separate Israel bill after the Senate reached its immigration deal.
It included $17.6 billion in military aid to Israel, “as well as significant funding for U.S. forces in the region,” according to Johnson.
And it lacked the spending offsets that Johnson said Democrats objected to in an earlier proposal.
However, this originated from being considered a political tactic to take advantage of the Republican Party's rejection of the Senate immigration deal.