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The Senate voted 64-19 to advance the legislation one step along
a chain of preliminary votes that could stretch into next week,
unless party leaders can reach agreement with rank-and-file
lawmakers to fast-track the bill. Lawmakers expect to take the
next procedural step in a rare Sunday session.
In Friday's vote, the bill cleared a simple majority threshold
with 14 Republicans supporting the measure.
Many Republicans want to make a deal with Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, to allow amendments to the
legislation in exchange for quicker action.
But other Republicans, who reject the bill's $61 billion in
Ukraine aid, have vowed to delay consideration for as long as
possible by forcing the Senate to comply with a labyrinth of
time-consuming parliamentary rules.
Republicans had insisted that Ukraine aid be accompanied by
provisions to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, only to reject a
bipartisan border agreement once former President Donald Trump,
the party's presidential frontrunner, came out against the deal.
Some of those same lawmakers now hope to offer their own
amendments to stem the flow of migrants into the United States,
while others want to forgo humanitarian assistance provisions
and restrict foreign aid to weapons and materiel.
If the legislation ultimately passes the Senate, it will face an
uncertain future in the Republican-controlled House of
Representatives, where Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated he
could split the aid into separate bills.
"We'll see what the Senate does," Johnson told reporters this
week. "I've made very clear that you have to address these
issues on their own merits."
Johnson spoke a day after the House rejected a stand-alone aid
bill for Israel.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Richard Cowan; editing by
Jonathan Oatis)
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