The Senate adjourned Wednesday after failing to advance the contentious $118 billion border package. Republicans, who had demanded the hard-line immigration measure in exchange for funding for Ukraine and Israel, U-turned on the bill after Donald Trump directed them to reject it. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed Republicans and Trump for sowing chaos in legislative business.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: “If there’s one other person besides Donald Trump who is rooting for chaos in the Senate, it is Vladimir Putin. If we fail in this moment, if we abandon our friends in Ukraine to Vladimir Putin, history will cast a shameful and permanent shadow on senators who blocked funding. It is a matter of the highest national urgency that we get this right.”
Schumer said he would call a separate vote today on military funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, without any border provisions. As the $118 billion border bill failed Wednesday, more than 800 faith leaders and groups called on Congress to pivot to a more humane immigration package “that respects the sacred dignity of all people.”