US Senate denies funding to Ukraine

On Wednesday, the Senate did not receive the 60 votes needed to approve a spending measure put up by the White House, which included more than $60 billion in money for Kiev.

In the end, the bill was voted down 49 times to 51 times; Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who usually votes with the Democrats, was one of the Republican opponents who voted against the bill. According to The Hill, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York also voted “no” in order to allow himself to revisit the plan later.

In an effort to win over Republicans, the White House first asked for $105 billion in emergency additional “national security” financing in October. The aid to Ukraine was bundled with funding for Taiwan, Israel, and “border security.” The majority of Democrats in the Senate rejected the demands of the Republican-controlled House, which sought to address each issue in a separate appropriations measure.

Earlier in the day, President Joe Biden pleaded with the Senate to pass the legislation, charging that Republicans were holding the money for Kiev “hostage” to border policy and attempting to “literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process.”

“Everyone is literally observing: what action will the United States take?” Speaking to reporters, Biden hinted that in the absence of US leadership, the G7, the EU, and Japan would stop supporting Kiev, so giving Russian President Vladimir Putin the upper hand.

Since the battle with Russia intensified in February 2022, the US has given Kiev over $100 billion in assistance, which includes cash to support the Ukrainian currency and pay for pensions and government wages as well as weapons, ammunition, and supplies. Without more assistance, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen declared on Tuesday that Washington would be solely to blame for Ukraine’s defeat.

Schumer warned Republicans not to side with the “hard right,” which he said was using the border dispute as “nothing more than an excuse” to sever funds for Ukraine, in remarks made prior to Wednesday night’s vote. Republicans countered that the Democrats were not giving enough weight to their concerns.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas stated earlier this week, “It may take a failed closure vote for them to realise we’re serious, and we’re prepared to do that.” A bill must receive 60 votes in the Senate to move forward with the closure procedure.

Enacting HR2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023, is one of the requirements for approving aid to Ukraine, as House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, informed the White House on Tuesday. He called the situation on the border with Mexico “an unconscionable and unsustainable catastrophe.”

Since Biden assumed office, more than 6.5 million people have entered the country illegally; nearly 300 of them are “on the terrorist watchlist,” he claimed.

Democrats have refused to change any of the parole or asylum laws, which at the moment permit anyone entering the country illegally to apply for asylum and then be released into the interior, arguing that doing so would be “inhumane.”