US Senate advances wartime aid package for Ukraine and Israel

The Senate on Thursday advanced a wartime aid package for Ukraine and Israel, reviving an effort that had stalled amid Republican opposition to a border security bill they demanded and later abandoned.

A day after blocking a measure that would have paired harsh new border restrictions with security assistance for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies, the Senate voted 67 to 32 to begin consideration of the $95bn emergency aid bill. Several Republicans who voted to block the broader border package agreed to open debate on the foreign policy-only version of the measure after securing the opportunity to propose changes, including the immigration enforcement measures that were stripped out.

With Kyiv begging Washington for help battling Russian forces on the frontline, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, hailed the preliminary vote as a “good first step”. But its prospects remained unclear as Republicans threatened to force a lengthy amendment process.

“Failure to pass this bill would only embolden autocrats like [Russia’s Vladimir] Putin and [China’s] Xi [Jinping], who want nothing more than America’s decline,” Schumer said following the vote. He added: “We are going to keep working on this bill until the job is done.”

But numerous hurdles remain before the bill can pass the Senate. Some hard-right Republicans, who opposed both the bipartisan border bill and the standalone foreign aid package, made clear that they would not allow the Senate to fast-track the proposal. Their procedural maneuvering could push the timeline for the bill’s passage into next week.

“I’ll object to anything speeding up this rotten foreign spending bill’s passage,” Senator Rand Paul, a Republican of Kentucky, said on X. “It’s a terrible idea to put