Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) did not hold back on Monday when describing Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who is dragging out the Senate effort to pass a $95.3 billion foreign aid bill with assistance for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel.
“We’re only here because of just one prick,” Fetterman told CNN’s Manu Raju. “And he decides that the rest of all of our schedules and our lives and holding up this bill getting to the House for all of this aid. It’s incredibly frustrating and there’s no work being done. It’s just bad performance art.”
Though the bill is expected to pass, Paul is willing to slow down the process as some far right Republicans in the Senate rail against the package.
“I think we should stay here as long as it takes,” Paul told CNN last week. “If it takes a week or a month, I’ll force them to stay here to discuss why they think the border of Ukraine is more important than the US border.”
Paul also slammed his fellow Kentucky senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) who has been urging the Senate to act swiftly.
“I can say right now, he doesn’t represent me, or conservatives in Kentucky or conservatives across the United States,” Paul said. “He’s doing the bidding of Schumer and Biden.”
The aid package bill includes $60 billion to support Ukraine, $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel and U.S. military operations in the region, $9.2 billion in humanitarian assistance to provide food, water, shelter and medical care to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine and others caught in war zones around the world and $8 billion to support regional partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
