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Wednesday, February 07, 2024 4:33:16 PM
Border Deal Fails in the Senate
Washington, D.C. Feb. 7, 4:24 p.m.
Live Updated Feb. 7, 2024, 4:18 p.m. ET
10 minutes ago
Democrats will offer Republicans another chance to pass emergency funding for Ukraine
and Israel: A second measure drops the border security measures the party had demanded.
The Capitol on Wednesday. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
Annie Karni
Reporting from the Capitol
Here’s the latest on the border and Ukraine deal.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a bill to pair tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine and Israel with stringent border security measures, thwarting a compromise they had demanded in the latest setback to the emergency national security spending package.
But Democrats quickly moved to salvage the aid, with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, pivoting to advance a stand-alone foreign aid bill stripped of the immigration deal. A vote on that alternative was expected later on Wednesday.
“Republicans have said they can’t pass Ukraine without border. Now they say they can’t pass Ukraine with border. Today, I’m giving them a choice,” Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor before the votes. “I urge Republicans to take yes for an answer.” Earlier in the day, he expressed confidence that the national security package, detached from the border provisions, would have enough support to advance.
That would take 60 votes, which would require the support of at least 10 Republicans, a level that members of both parties privately said they believed was achievable. It would clear a major hurdle to the bill, putting it on a path to passing the Senate. But it would still face stiff headwinds in the House, where right-wing lawmakers are vehemently opposed to sending additional assistance to Ukraine.
Here’s what else to know:
* The border deal, which hemorrhaged Republican support after former President Donald J. Trump vocally opposed it, fell on Wednesday when it failed to muster the 60 votes necessary to move forward. The vote was 50-49, with 44 Republicans, four Democrats and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders voting “no.” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader who had encouraged the border deal negotiations but said it had become politically untenable, was among the opponents.
* Only four Republicans — Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah and James Lankford of Oklahoma — voted with Democrats to advance the bill. Four Democrats also crossed party lines on the bill, opposing it: Senators Alex Padilla of California, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, both of Massachusetts. Mr. Schumer also voted “no” in a procedural move to allow him to move quickly to reconsider it on the aid-only bill.
* Mr. Schumer’s move laid the groundwork for a quick vote on foreign aid alone, forcing Republicans to decide whether they wanted to vote twice in one day to block the package, a grim prospect for a party that suffered a series of humiliating setbacks on Tuesday that showed its inability to govern.
* The foreign aid bill includes $60.1 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians of global crises, including Palestinians and Ukrainians.
* In the House, where Republicans failed on Tuesday night to push through a $17.6 billion bill to send military assistance only to Israel, Speaker Mike Johnson would not say whether he would take up Mr. Schumer’s Plan B. “We’ll see what the Senate does; we’re allowing the process to play out,” Mr. Johnson told reporters Wednesday morning. That was a striking difference in tone to his stance on the border and Ukraine package, which he had repeatedly called “dead on arrival” in the House.
* Mr. Johnson, however, is facing immense pressure on his right to reject the national security package. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, has threatened to oust him from the speakership if he brings to the floor any bill that includes funding for Ukraine.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/07/us/congress-ukraine-israel-aid
I don't understand why anyone would be so intent on helping Putin in Ukraine.
Uh, well, ok -- Ideological opponents
Other Republicans have taken a markedly more hard-line approach to Ukraine funding, with some arguing that, on principle, that the assistance is misguided or wrong.
This position has been taken by a small but vocal minority of lawmakers from the hard right of the party, such as Representatives Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has said Ukraine aid "puts America last" and means that "we're ignoring our own people's problems".
These members of a growing isolationist wing of the Republican party appear motivated by Donald Trump. The former president has repeatedly questioned aid to Ukraine and refused to commit to supporting Kyiv.
Instead, he has said that he would end the war "in 24 hours". He also called on Congress in July to withhold aid to Ukraine until the Justice Department and FBI "had over every scrap of evidence" about any alleged Biden family misdeeds.
"Quite frankly, Donald Trump is opposed to anything that President Biden is in favour of and that would be beneficial to the Biden presidency," Glenn Altschuler, a professor of American Studies at Cornell University, said.
While this wing of the party remains relatively small and unable to block legislation on its own, Mr Altschuler said it can "have an outsized influence, at least on the moment, on the outcome".
Slipping support among voters
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67649497
Who cares about Putin's expansion program, and anyway my allegiance is to Trump. Basically simply that.
Washington, D.C. Feb. 7, 4:24 p.m.
Live Updated Feb. 7, 2024, 4:18 p.m. ET
10 minutes ago
Democrats will offer Republicans another chance to pass emergency funding for Ukraine
and Israel: A second measure drops the border security measures the party had demanded.
The Capitol on Wednesday. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
Annie Karni
Reporting from the Capitol
Here’s the latest on the border and Ukraine deal.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a bill to pair tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine and Israel with stringent border security measures, thwarting a compromise they had demanded in the latest setback to the emergency national security spending package.
But Democrats quickly moved to salvage the aid, with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, pivoting to advance a stand-alone foreign aid bill stripped of the immigration deal. A vote on that alternative was expected later on Wednesday.
“Republicans have said they can’t pass Ukraine without border. Now they say they can’t pass Ukraine with border. Today, I’m giving them a choice,” Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor before the votes. “I urge Republicans to take yes for an answer.” Earlier in the day, he expressed confidence that the national security package, detached from the border provisions, would have enough support to advance.
That would take 60 votes, which would require the support of at least 10 Republicans, a level that members of both parties privately said they believed was achievable. It would clear a major hurdle to the bill, putting it on a path to passing the Senate. But it would still face stiff headwinds in the House, where right-wing lawmakers are vehemently opposed to sending additional assistance to Ukraine.
Here’s what else to know:
* The border deal, which hemorrhaged Republican support after former President Donald J. Trump vocally opposed it, fell on Wednesday when it failed to muster the 60 votes necessary to move forward. The vote was 50-49, with 44 Republicans, four Democrats and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders voting “no.” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader who had encouraged the border deal negotiations but said it had become politically untenable, was among the opponents.
* Only four Republicans — Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah and James Lankford of Oklahoma — voted with Democrats to advance the bill. Four Democrats also crossed party lines on the bill, opposing it: Senators Alex Padilla of California, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, both of Massachusetts. Mr. Schumer also voted “no” in a procedural move to allow him to move quickly to reconsider it on the aid-only bill.
* Mr. Schumer’s move laid the groundwork for a quick vote on foreign aid alone, forcing Republicans to decide whether they wanted to vote twice in one day to block the package, a grim prospect for a party that suffered a series of humiliating setbacks on Tuesday that showed its inability to govern.
* The foreign aid bill includes $60.1 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians of global crises, including Palestinians and Ukrainians.
* In the House, where Republicans failed on Tuesday night to push through a $17.6 billion bill to send military assistance only to Israel, Speaker Mike Johnson would not say whether he would take up Mr. Schumer’s Plan B. “We’ll see what the Senate does; we’re allowing the process to play out,” Mr. Johnson told reporters Wednesday morning. That was a striking difference in tone to his stance on the border and Ukraine package, which he had repeatedly called “dead on arrival” in the House.
* Mr. Johnson, however, is facing immense pressure on his right to reject the national security package. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, has threatened to oust him from the speakership if he brings to the floor any bill that includes funding for Ukraine.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/07/us/congress-ukraine-israel-aid
I don't understand why anyone would be so intent on helping Putin in Ukraine.
Uh, well, ok -- Ideological opponents
Other Republicans have taken a markedly more hard-line approach to Ukraine funding, with some arguing that, on principle, that the assistance is misguided or wrong.
This position has been taken by a small but vocal minority of lawmakers from the hard right of the party, such as Representatives Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has said Ukraine aid "puts America last" and means that "we're ignoring our own people's problems".
These members of a growing isolationist wing of the Republican party appear motivated by Donald Trump. The former president has repeatedly questioned aid to Ukraine and refused to commit to supporting Kyiv.
Instead, he has said that he would end the war "in 24 hours". He also called on Congress in July to withhold aid to Ukraine until the Justice Department and FBI "had over every scrap of evidence" about any alleged Biden family misdeeds.
"Quite frankly, Donald Trump is opposed to anything that President Biden is in favour of and that would be beneficial to the Biden presidency," Glenn Altschuler, a professor of American Studies at Cornell University, said.
While this wing of the party remains relatively small and unable to block legislation on its own, Mr Altschuler said it can "have an outsized influence, at least on the moment, on the outcome".
Slipping support among voters
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67649497
Who cares about Putin's expansion program, and anyway my allegiance is to Trump. Basically simply that.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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