OLYMPIA, Wash.- A $118 billion funding package released by the Senate Appropriations Committee has met immediate Republican resistance in the U.S. Senate.
On Feb. 4, the package which included funding for the U.S.-Mexico border, the war effort in Ukraine and funding for Israel, was released for public review. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) highlighted some of the largest funding items in the bill.
“On Sunday, we rolled out a bipartisan compromise package with $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel, $4.8 billion to support our allies in the Indo-Pacific, $10 billion for humanitarian assistance, $20 billion for operational needs at the border and more,” Murray said.
The deal was intended to generate bipartisan compromise, but it appears that the bill may not find support from the majority of Republicans in the Senate.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell encouraged his fellow conservative lawmakers to vote against any proceedings involving the bill in a closed meeting on Feb. 5. Without the support of the chamber’s leading Republican, the bipartisan bill could be dead on arrival.
Murray, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, conveyed her frustration with the state of the negotiations in remarks to the chamber.
“If Republicans kill this deal without even a vote–throwing out border policies they demanded, throwing their Senate colleagues under the bus, and throwing in the towel to dictators like Putin–how are they going to have any sort of credibility on addressing the border?” Murray said.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson has publicly conveyed his resistance to a potential border compromise, making the passage of a bill offering joint funding for Ukraine, Israel and the U.S.-Mexico border less likely. In a Jan. 26 statement, Johnson argued that the border compromise was an insufficient response to border crossings.
“House Republicans will vigorously oppose any policy proposal from the White House or Senate that would further incentivize illegal aliens to break our laws,” Johnson said.
With Republican leadership in the House and Senate reversing course on support for the bipartisan funding, it is unclear whether the $118 billion will ever become policy. As the 2024 presidential campaign heats up, national security funding continues to be a key issue which could shape the coming months.
