Now we're following breaking news from Capitol Hill.
The Senate has just voted to advance an aid package
that would provide aid for Israel,
Ukraine, and the Indo Pacific in advance with a 6732
vote but without a border deal attached.
So congressional correspondent Nathaniel Reed is joining us live now
from Capitol Hill.
Nate, catch us up to speed.
Yeah, well, this was effectively a bet from Senate Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer yesterday when it became clear that this
was not going to happen.
That this massive border deal which was negotiated over the
course of four months.
Senator James Lankford, the Republican senator Kirsten Cinema,
the independent Senator Chris Murphy,
the Democrat worked together behind the scenes over the past
four months,
over the holidays to try and get this deal together.
When that flamed out, Senate Majority Leader Schumer said,
look, I'm going to put that up for a vote,
and if it fails, then we're going to take another
vote.
And that's going to be a vote on additional aid
for Israel,
Ukraine. Nando Pacific and Stop Fentanyl Act.
The Biden administration had requested that they had originally tried
to consider five months ago.
So this was effectively a test of whether Republicans and
Democrats would be willing to vote to advance a bill
to help out our partners in Ukraine as well as
Israel. Here's what Senate Majority Leader Schumer said yesterday,
right before this vote, right before the series of votes
began.
First, Republicans said they would only do Ukraine and Israel
humanitarian aid with border.
Then they said they wouldn't do it,
they would not do it with border.
Well, we're going to give them both options we're going
to take.
We'll take either one. We just hope they can come
to yes on something.
For all those Republicans who said,
well, who first said, well we want it with border
and now say we want it without border,
they got both options.
And Senate Majority Leader Schumer's gamble,
which he said he was going to take yesterday,
paid off. The Senate was able to advance by a
bipartisan margin this bill that would help Ukraine,
Israel, the Indo Pacific, meaning Taiwan,
as well as a fentanyl act that the Biden administration
had wanted to send the flow of that drug into
the country.
So this was in a way a victory for Democrats
and some Republicans who want to see additional aid out
the door to Ukraine,
Israel and Taiwan. The same time,
There's a long way to go here,
guys. Not only do they have to pass through a
bunch of amendment votes,
which could certainly derail this overall process,
but it's not exactly clear that the House Speaker,
Mike Johnson, would be willing to put this bill up
for a vote.
So there's still a very real chance here that Ukraine
and Israel aid might be dead on arrival,
might not make it to President Biden's desk.
At the same time, this was at least an incremental
victory for those who want to see additional aid for
Ukraine,
Israel, and Taiwan go out the door.
What a journey so far.
And like you said, it's not over.
Nathaniel Re reporting for us live from Capitol Hill.
Thank you very much.