Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.Credit:AP
Therejection of the funding bill,which had been expected,threatened Democratic President Joe Biden’s effort to provide new aid before the end of 2023. It came after Democrats and Republicans had negotiated for weeks to add immigration policy changes to the security bill to win enough Republican votes to pass.
Those talks broke off last Friday,and emotions ran so high that a classified Senate briefing on Ukraine on Tuesday erupted into a shouting match from which several Republicans stormed out.
“We are left with only two paths forward to break the logjam. Either Republicans can take us up on an amendment offer or we can restart negotiations,” the Senate’s Democratic leader,Chuck Schumer,said as he opened the chamber on Thursday.
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By mid-November,the US Defence Department had used 97 per cent of $US62.3 billion in supplemental funding it had received for Ukraine and the State Department had used all the $US4.7 billion in military assistance funding it had been allocated to help Kyiv as it battles Russian invaders,US budget director Shalanda Young said.
If Congress does not provide new funds to buy replacement equipment,the US,Ukraine and arms makers may have to take other steps to backfill stocks.
Senator Mitch McConnell,the Republican leader,repeated assertions that Democrats did not take border security seriously enough,but said he hoped for an agreement.