Senator Rand Paul tonight halted the bill that was pushing $40 billion more for Ukraine.
Yesterday we reported on the House’s bill that passed and gave $40 billion to Ukraine. This bill passed with all Democrats voting yes and most of the Republicans. There literally is no longer any pushback from the left-on war in Ukraine.
In the past, there was a faction within Congress that didn’t want or like war, but that is ancient history. No longer are politicians and their base protesting a war effort. The liberal party that protested wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are history. AOC and others are weak and have no say in what is going on.
Senator Rand Paul stopped the Uniparty’s effort
Despite the high-profile pressure from the two leaders, Paul refused to blink, meaning that Schumer will need to take procedural steps to overcome his objection, which could take several days, but will ultimately lead to passage of the supplemental spending bill sometime next week.
McConnell and Schumer on Thursday offered to allow a vote on Paul’s amendment, but he insisted it be added to the underlying bill.
The change Paul is seeking would create a special inspector general to oversee how the Ukraine military aid is spent. Members from both parties broadly agree with that notion, but forcing a change to the bill at this stage would be very time consuming and would slow getting the needed aid to Ukraine.
“The package is ready to go,” Schumer said. “The vast majority of senators on both sides of the aisle want it. There’s now only one thing holding us back the junior senator from Kentucky is preventing swift passage of Ukraine aid because he wants to add at the last minute his own changes directly into the bill. His change is strongly opposed by many members of both parties.”
War is the uniparty goal – that and money and power.