The Senate on Thursday is expected to consider a bill to provide assistance to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan after Republicans in the chamber rejected a bipartisan border security and foreign aid bill.
The scheduled Thursday afternoon vote is procedural, on whether to move to the question of taking up the foreign aid package, and would require at least 60 votes for approval. If the motion is successful, the chamber would need to take additional floor votes to advance the bill to the House.
The Senate blocked the border bill in a 49-50 vote Wednesday afternoon. Republicans filibustered the agreement, saying it wouldn’t do enough to combat record-high migrant crossings at the southern border after having initially called for tougher border provisions in the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is now pressing forward with a standalone Israel and Ukraine aid package, without the border security provisions, and Senate Republicans were meeting Thursday morning to figure out how they want to proceed.
Hours before Senate Republicans blocked the bipartisan border security bill, Schumer told Democrats about his plans to put forward a supplemental aid package without border security provisions. He had expected the procedural vote on the bipartisan border security bill to fail, and planned on calling another 60-vote threshold vote for the supplemental aid package that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
In addition to foreign aid, the pared-down package would also include provisions targeting fentanyl trafficking, a Senate Democratic aide told NBC News.
The new foreign aid bill was met with skepticism from Senate Republicans during a lunch earlier Wednesday, three sources in the room told NBC News.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not say on Wednesday whether he would allow a floor vote on the bill, saying, “We’ll see what the Senate does.”
