The Senate majority leader promised a test vote by Wednesday on a measure pairing an immigration crackdown with Ukraine aid, but its outlook remains dim with Republican resistance.
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Senator Chuck Schumer said the Senate would vote on the immigration and Ukraine aid package next week.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said on Thursday that he would set up a test vote next week on a measure pairing an immigration crackdown with tens of billions of dollars in military assistance to Ukraine and Israel, but the package is facing a rough road with Republican resistance in both chambers.
Mr. Schumer’s promise came as a small group of Republican and Democratic senators rushed to finalize a plan to clamp down on migration across the U.S. border with Mexico, which Republicans had demanded be paired with any further aid to Kyiv for its war against Russian aggression.
Senate leaders in both parties have called the emerging border agreement the best chance in decades to address the intractable issue of immigration, and President Biden has endorsed it. But right-wing Republicans, egged on by former President Donald J. Trump, have denounced it as too weak, prompting Speaker Mike Johnson to call it dead on arrival in the House and indicating that it may have no path through Congress.
And since negotiators have yet to release the text of their agreement, it is not yet clear whether Senate Republicans will embrace or reject it. Mr. Schumer said the finished product would be public “no later than Sunday,” to give senators enough time to examine it before an initial vote expected by Wednesday.
“We are getting very close,” Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor, arguing that the forthcoming bill would be a vital tool for “enabling us to address multiple crises around the globe.”
“Addressing these challenges is not easy, but we cannot simply shirk from our responsibilities just because a task is difficult,” he added.
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Source: nytimes.com
