Congress rejected the Republican bill, which did not include aid to Ukraine

The House of Representatives of the US Congress rejected the bill of the Republicans, which provided for the provision of $17.6 billion to Israel. At the same time, the Republicans were unable to gather enough support to pass a strengthening of the US border policy, as well as aid to Ukraine and other countries.

This was reported by the Reuters agency and The Hill publication.

The Democratic Party has said it wants to vote for a broader bill that also includes aid to Ukraine, international humanitarian funding and new money for border security.

The vote was 250 to 180. This was not enough to pass the law, as it was introduced under an accelerated procedure that requires a two-thirds vote. Voting was largely along party lines, although 14 Republicans opposed the bill and 46 Democrats supported it.

Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and other top officials say the Senate should now move on to other aspects of the package — funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

"It seems to me and most of our members that we have no real chance of passing this bill," McConnell said.

According to him, in the opinion of the Republicans, the provisions on the border, given the deep differences in the ranks of the party, should be left aside.

“I followed the instructions of my faction, which insisted that we deal with this issue in October. I mean, it was our side that wanted to resolve the border issue. We started it," McConnell added.

At the same time, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who represented his party at the negotiations, said in this connection that after this, the Republicans "cannot be trusted at all."

“They told us what to do, we followed their instructions letter by letter, and then they ʼpulled the rug out from under our feetʼ for 24 hours. Who should we work with there? They are a terror for negotiations," he declared.

Chronology of events

On October 20, 2023, US President Joe Biden submitted a request to Congress for additional funding in the amount of approximately $106 billion. In particular, it included aid to Ukraine ($61.4 billion, the largest package) and Israel ($14.3 billion), as well as the provision of funds for the security of the US southern border.

However, consideration of the document was blocked by representatives of the Republican Party, who insist on strengthening migration control measures at the US-Mexico border. Biden called the Republicansʼ refusal to support the bill political blackmail, noting that "the stakes are too high, and the consequences are too significant."

On February 3, 2024, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, told Republicans that this week the House will vote on a separate bill on providing assistance to Israel, which does not provide for additional funding to support Ukraine. The White House warned that Biden would veto it.

On February 5, the US Senate presented a new bipartisan bill in which the total amount of allocated funds is $118 billion, of which $60 billion is earmarked for aid to Ukraine, another $14 billion for Israel, and $20.23 billion for the protection of the US borders. Trump called on Republicans to sabotage the bipartisan deal in the Senate.