Senators on Sunday released the details of a $118.2 billion aid proposal for Ukraine, Israel and the southern U.S. border, after months of painstaking, closed-door negotiations.
The long-awaited bill requests $60.1 billion for Ukraine aid, $14.1 billion for Israel and $20.2 billion to improve security at the U.S. border. It also includes smaller pockets of funding for humanitarian assistance in war-torn regions, and defense operations in the Red Sea and Taiwan.
President Joe Biden initially proposed a more than $105 billion aid package in October. The Senate’s new deal roughly matches the funding amounts Biden had requested for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The central difference in the new proposal is over $13 billion more in border security funding, which was a major point of contention in the months-long Senate talks.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said a vote is scheduled for the bill on Wednesday.
The publication of the bill marks a small victory for Senate negotiators who have gone back and forth for months trying to strike a deal.
“I know the overwhelming majority of Senators want to get this done, and it will take bipartisan cooperation to move quickly,” Schumer said in a statement following the proposal’s release. “Senators must shut out the noise from those who want this agreement to fail for their own political agendas.”
Just as soon as the Senate back-patting is over, the proposal will face its next major battle: House Republicans.
Republican lawmakers have been preparing to greet the Senate bill with hostility.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Saturday announced a House proposal that would fund Israel alone, a blatant attempt to preempt the Senate’s broader foreign aid bill. Johnson said the House would vote on the bill next week.
The White House criticized the House’s counterproposal, deeming it a political stunt.
“We see it as a ploy that’s being put forward on the House side right now, as not being a serious effort to deal with the national…
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