The Speaker of the US House of Representatives rejects the Senate agreement on aid to Ukraine
US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson pledged on Sunday that the Senate agreement on a newly unveiled bill linking enhanced border security in exchange for providing aid to Ukraine would deliver dead to his Republican-dominated chamber.
“The bill is worse than we expected, and won’t come close to ending the border disaster caused by the president,” Johnson wrote on X.
The security supplement to the bill allocates total funding of $118.3 billion, including $60 billion to support war-torn Ukraine, which is in line with the White House request, and $14.1 billion in security aid to Israel, according to a summary published by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patty Murray.
The bill includes $20.2 billion for US border security and a number of amendments to immigration policies approved by Democratic and Republican negotiators.
The bill gives President Joe Biden the authority to reject asylum seekers if the number of crossings exceeds 5,000 per week, which has happened several times in the past few months.
It’s not clear though, whether the 370-page bill has the 60 votes it needs to pass the first procedural vote in the 100-seat Senate controlled by Democrats.
The vote is expected to take place on Wednesday at the latest.
