Republican senator Rand Paul (Ky) stalls the bipartisan $40 billion Ukraine aid package in the Senate on Thursday, according to The Hill.
Paul denied senate leaders unanimous consent needed to pass the legislation because he wanted language inserted into the bill, without a vote, that would expand an Afghanistan inspector general role to include oversight of the Ukraine funds.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) offered to have a vote on Paul’s language but he turned that down because it would fail. Paul’s proposal needed 60 votes to be included in the aid package.
He argued that the added spending would deepen federal deficits and worsen inflation. “We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the U.S. economy,” Paul said, according to the Associated Press.
Paul’s objection would delay final Senate passage of the bill until about next week.
The $40 billion Ukraine aid package was passed by the House on a 368-57 on Tuesday evening and has strong bipartisan support in the Senate.
The funding will be used to assist Ukrainian military and national security forces and will go toward weapons, equipment, training, logistics and intelligence support, as Russia’s unprovoked invasion of the country enters its third month. The bill also includes $900 million to assist refugees feeling the country with housing, trauma support, and English language instruction, according to CNN.
“There is now only one thing holding us back, the junior senator from Kentucky is preventing swift passage of Ukraine aid because he wants to add, at the last minute, his own changes directly into the bill … He is not even asking for an amendment. He is simply saying my way or the highway,” Schumer said. “I’m offering to hold a vote on his amendment, even though I disagree with it. Let the chamber speak its will. Let both sides of the aisle have input and for heaven’s sake, let Ukraine funding get done ASAP.”
