US Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to exclude the bipartisan border security agreement from the emergency defense spending bill and introduce a package of funding for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Gaza to the Senate on Wednesday, The Hill reports, UNN writes.
Details
Senators expect the law to pass without border security reform, which was unveiled on Sunday and strongly rejected by the majority of Republicans in the Senate.
"Schumer still plans to hold a procedural vote on moving forward with a Ukraine-Israel funding package that includes border security reforms. This way, he can give vulnerable Democratic colleagues a chance to vote for it and claim during the campaign that they tried to solve the border crisis," the newspaper writes.
But, as stated, "Republicans are expected to block the package and then, according to Schumer, he will move on to Plan B.
"Schumer has told Senate Democrats that he plans to bring an agreed-upon supplemental to the floor without a border security clause after an expected failed vote to close the deal on Wednesday," a Senate Democratic aide said.
"Last week, Schumer told members of his caucus and the White House that if Republicans break the bipartisan border deal and the deal on the supplemental (bill), he has prepared a plan to use a reconsideration motion to force Republicans to vote for the supplemental deal without border reform," the aide added.
The reconsideration proposal would allow Schumer to immediately demand that senators vote a second time on a legislative mechanism to move funding for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region.
As indicated, the first time senators vote to end debate on moving to a legislative mechanism, it will be with the understanding that the funding package for Ukraine will include border security reforms. The majority of Republicans will vote to block the bill from moving forward.
Then, as noted, Schumer will hold a second vote on the same legislative mechanism, but this time with the understanding that it will be used to fund Ukraine, Israel, and other foreign aid priorities, but without agreed-upon border security reforms.
A sufficient number of Republicans are expected to vote for the bill. It needs 60 votes to pass.
If the carefully planned plan goes awry, Senate Republicans could potentially vote twice in one day to block the defense supplemental bill, which a Democratic aide called "a disconcerting prospect," the newspaper writes.