Senate GOP Prioritizes $60B Ukraine Aid Over U.S. Border

(ProsperNews.net) – Senate Republicans joined with Democrats to pass a bill that provided three times more funding for Ukraine than the southern US border. Seventeen GOP Senators voted for the bill, including twelve who previously said they would not, allowing it to pass through the upper chamber.

The Senators are Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins from Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Kennedy from Louisiana, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Arkansas, Mitt Romney from Utah, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Dan Sullivan of Arkansas, John Thune from South Dakota, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Todd Young of Indiana. Every Democrat in the Senate supported the legislation, as well as independent socialist Senator Bernie Sanders.

The bill contains several provisions, including a $60 billion boost to Ukraine, topping up the $113 billion already provided. It also includes $14 billion for Israel, $10 billion for humanitarian assistance in war zones, and $20 billion for the porous American border.

President Biden has touted the legislation as allowing him to shut down the border if average daily crossings surpassed 4,000. If average daily crossings surpass 5,000, or a single day surpasses 8,500, the President will be obliged to take action, but some Republicans, including Donald Trump, say this is insufficient and allows Democrats to claim they tried to secure the border in an election year while doing nothing over the previous three years.

President Trump described the proposals as a “death wish” for Republicans, while GOP Reps. in the House said it was “dead on arrival.” Biden responded, stating that every day “between now and November,” the American people will be reminded that the only reason the legislation didn’t pass was Donald Trump.

GOP Speaker Mike Johnson similarly denounced the bill and said it was “even worse than we expected and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe.”