Senate Ignores American Security, Passes Foreign Aid Bill Instead

After Senate Republicans blocked the bipartisan border security package last week, the Senate turned its attention to protecting the security of foreign countries instead.

On Tuesday, Congress’ upper chamber passed a new foreign aid bill totaling $95.3 billion in assistance for Israel and Ukraine. The 70-29 vote included 22 Republicans supporting the measure, allowing it to easily bypass the filibuster.

Despite heavy criticism from both House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and former President Donald Trump, the Senate still pressed forward with the package.

“History settles every account. And today, on the value of American leadership and strength, history will record that the Senate did not blink,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said after the vote in a statement.

His words seemed to preemptively dig at his counterparts in the House, who aren’t expected to wholeheartedly get behind the bill. In fact, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has vowed not to bring the legislation to the floor for a vote, declaring that “the Senate has failed to meet the moment.”

“Now, in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters. America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo,” he added.

Many Republicans in the House have opposed sending more aid to Ukraine — at least without first allocating funding to secure the U.S. southern border with Mexico.
For his part, Trump argued that the U.S. shouldn’t be handing out more foreign aid unless it was given as a loan.

“We should never give money anymore without the hope of a payback, or without ‘strings’ attached. The United States of America should be ‘stupid no longer!'” he posted in all caps to his Truth Social platform on Saturday.

The Senate bill would send $14.1 billion to Israel and another $60 billion to Ukraine. In addition, it would allocate $9.2 billion for humanitarian assistance in regions throughout the world, as well as $4.8 billion to some U.S. partners in the Indo-Pacific region, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to X to thank “every U.S. Senator” who voted in favor of the bill, which he called “a morally strong choice.” He then seemed to attempt to pressure GOP House members when saying that he anticipated “an equally strong moral choice” in the lower chamber.

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