Senators in both parties are calling for President Biden and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to take a more active role in negotiations over a package to fund Ukraine and Israel and secure the U.S.-Mexico border after GOP senators voted unanimously Wednesday to block a motion to proceed on the $110 billion bill.
Biden’s request for military aid to Ukraine and Israel, humanitarian assistance for Gaza and funding to secure the southern border now appears to be in serious jeopardy after talks over border security broke down Friday.
That’s when Sen. James Lankford (Okla.), the lead Republican negotiator, offered a proposal that Democrats say “mirrored” the proposals in the House-passed Secure the Border Act, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has called a non-starter.
Schumer tried to break the impasse Wednesday by promising Republicans they could offer the first amendment to the foreign aid package and propose whatever border security reforms they think could win 60 votes on the Senate floor, but GOP senators slapped down the offer.
Was that not kind of him…….
With only two work weeks left before Christmas, senators acknowledge it’s looking more likely that Congress won’t pass new money for Ukraine this year, and some are calling on Biden and McConnell, who have a long history of negotiating major deals, to get more directly involved.
“I think it would be very helpful to have the White House as part of this negotiation,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said. “In the wake of this failed vote, it’s an appropriate time.”
Bennet noted that Biden and McConnell put together a major deal to avoid the fiscal cliff at the end of 2012, after negotiators in Congress couldn’t reach a deal on the expiring Bush-era tax cuts.
McConnell also worked with Biden to avoid a national default in the summer of 2011 and to temporarily extend the Bush tax cuts after the 2010 midterm election.