Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said President Biden’s $105 billion foreign aid request is “dead on arrival” in the Senate in its current form.
“President Biden’s slush fund proposal is dead on arrival, just like his budgets. We will not spend, for example, $3.5 billion to address the ‘potential needs of Gazans,’ essentially functioning as a resupply line for Hamas terrorists,” he said in a statement.
“We will also not spend $11.8 billion to fund the Ukrainian government’s own non-war spending, such as funding retirement pensions for Ukrainian government employees,” he continued. “Nor will we spend $4.7 billion for housing, transportation, and ‘services’ for illegal aliens in the United States rather than deporting them.”
Biden has requested sending $61 billion to Ukraine, $14 billion for military aid to Israel, and $14 billion to address the border crisis. Another $7.4 billion is slated for Taiwan and Indo-Pacific allies, as well as $10 billion for humanitarian purposes in Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza.
“The Biden proposal is going nowhere, and Senate Republicans will take the lead on crafting a funding bill that protects Americans and their interests,” Cotton concluded.
Despite objections from Cotton and other Republican senators, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he'd advance the aid package as quickly as possible.
“This legislation is too important to wait for the House to settle their chaos,” he said in a statement. “Senate Democrats will move expeditiously on this request, and we hope that our Republican colleagues across the aisle will join us to pass this much-needed funding.”