Politics

US senators to be briefed on Ukraine this week amid heated negotiations on emergency aid

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The Senate will have a classified briefing on Ukraine, Israel and the Biden administration’s $106 billion request for an emergency national supplemental package on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET, sources familiar told Fox News Digital on Friday. 

The meeting comes as tensions are rising on Capitol Hill as the two chambers must come to a consensus for an emergency aid package. Deliberations have revolved around border security, Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan for several weeks, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that a vote on the package would occur as early as this week. 

Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., want to keep Ukraine and Israel aid tied together. Meanwhile, the House passed a $14.3 billion Israel-only aid package earlier this month that also included steep cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

But that package likely won’t pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, nor get the White House’s approval without funding to help Ukraine. 

The White House’s supplemental request, which was sent to Congress in October, includes $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion for Israel (with $10.6 billion allocated for military aid), $13.6 billion for some border measures such as speeding up asylum processing, and significant investments in Indo-Pacific security assistance, totaling around $7.4 billion. Additionally, there’s $9 billion earmarked for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate both passed a temporary spending patch in September to keep the government funded until next year that did not include continued funding for Ukraine, even though Biden requested it. 

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