US Senate to review Ukraine aid bill on February 8 without Mexico border issue – Markarova
The US Senate decided to re-consider the draft law on financing aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. At the same time, the review will take place without migration reform and border security. Voting will take place on Thursday, Ukrainian Ambassador to the USA Oksana Markarova said on Facebook.
On Wednesday evening, the US Senate failed a procedural vote on a draft law providing for aid to Israel and Ukraine and strengthening control measures on the southern border of the United States. The package provided for the allocation of $118 billion, including $60 billion for Ukraine, as well as immigration reform, which was demanded by Republicans.
According to Markarova, American lawmakers by 58 votes to 41 supported the procedural decision needed to put to a vote the question of ending the debate and considering the "clean" bill on US international aid without migration reform introduced by Senator Patty Murray. She stressed that 60 votes will be needed for this.
According to the diplomat, the previous bill with a "big package" containing aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and border protection was "expectedly not supported". This happened due to the lack of votes for an agreement on migration reform, on which negotiators "worked in recent months."
She emphasized that precisely because of this, even before the vote for the "big package", the appropriations committee published the text of the "replacement" document, which provides exclusively for international aid to Ukraine ($60.06 billion), Israel and Taiwan.
A second review of the document, but without the migration reform, will take place in the Senate on Thursday at 7 p.m. (Kyiv time), Markarova said.
The New York Times reported that on Wednesday evening, Democrat Chuck Schumer said the Senate was going to adjourn to "give our Republican colleagues the night to figure themselves out". He added that the Senate would hold a vote on foreign aid on Thursday afternoon.
According to the newspaper, despite the delay, "there were glimmers of hope" that the aid package for Ukraine and Israel would eventually be advanced and approved within a few days.
On February 5, the US Senate announced a $118.28 billion package, of which $60.06 billion is to support Ukraine. The document combines border protection policy with wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies. Biden called on Congress to "come together and swiftly pass this bipartisan deal."
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson said that he had "seen enough" and will not vote on the bill presented in the Senate. He also stated that under this law the United States "won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe."
According to Bloomberg, after a 90-minute meeting on Monday, Republican senators said that the vote scheduled for Wednesday is "too soon".