BREAKING: Senate advances $95 BILLION foreign aid bill without border security funding

On Thursday, the United States Senate voted to advance a $95.3 billion foreign aid bill that includes funding for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza.

The bill leaves out funding for border security, which has been a heated debate in both the House and Senate.

The Senate voted 67-32 in favor of advancing the bill, which includes 17 GOP senators voting alongside Democrats. According to Fox News, the package was moved forward in a cloture vote, described as "a motion to limit debate on a bill and move to a final vote" that requires a three-fifths majority. Senators will now enter into debate over potentially adding border security provisions to the package.

The package, which follows the Senate's $118 billion supplementary package that failed earlier this week, includes $48 billion for Ukraine, $11 billion for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, and nearly $5 billion for Taiwan.

Speaking after the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: "Now that we are on the bill, we hope to reach an agreement with our Republican colleagues on amendments."

"We are going to keep working on this bill until the job is done," he asserted.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (SC), who has been vocal about his support for Ukraine, was among the dissenting votes.
 

"I'm not going to vote for cloture until I know how this movie ends," Graham told reporters before the vote.

"I want to know what the Democratic leadership will agree to," he said. "Our border is a bigger national security threat to us in the short term than Ukraine. We have not even begun to do what we could do to secure the border."

After Republicans opposed the $118 billion measure on Wednesday, which included $20 billion in border security measures, Democrats put the package up for a vote. Republicans have previously declared that unless the US southern border was secured, they would not support financing for Ukraine.

The Senate's $118 billion package was released on Sunday and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) immediately declared it "dead on arrival." He vowed, that under his leadership, the House would never pass a "border never closes" bill.

The Republican senators who voted alongside Democrats to advance the bill without border security funding include Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Bill Cassidy (LA), Susan Collins (ME), John Cornyn (TX), Joni Ernst (IA), Chuck Grassley (IA), John Kennedy (LA), Jerry Moran (KS), Lisa Murkowski​​​​​​​ (AK), Mitt Romney​​​​​​​ (UT), Mike Rounds​​​​​​​ (SD), Dan Sullivan​​​​​​​ (AK), Thom Tillis (NC), John Thune​​​​​​​ (SD), Roger Wicker​​​​​​​ (MS), and Todd Young​​​​​​​ (IN).

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