Senators can expect to work through the weekend to pass funding for Ukraine and Israel, among other bills, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Friday.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Schumer said senators will also be reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrantless surveillance program, which expires at 11:59 p.m.
"We're still trying to see if there's a path to getting this bill done quickly," Schumer said. "But disagreements remain on how to proceed, so we will keep at it. We want to get FISA done as fast as we can as it's very important to our national security."
Schumer said as soon as the House passes the foreign aid, he would move expeditiously to get it to President Joe Biden's desk.
"I hope the House gets this done very quickly, because delay on this national security funding has cost our Americans and cost our allies dearly," Schumer said.
Schumer said Ukraine Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy told him Ukraine will lose the war to Russia without additional aid.
The House voted 316-94 to advance a rule to begin floor debates on the foreign aid bills. Aside from Israel and Ukraine, the package provides aid to Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, and includes the REPO Act, which provides funds to Ukraine, using assets seized by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
Needing Democrat support to pass the aid package has further inflamed critics of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. have announced they will be calling a vote for Johnson's ouster.
"You are seriously out of step with Republicans by continuing to pass bills dependent on Democrats," Greene tweeted on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Everyone sees through this."
A border security bill, separate from the aid package, will also be voted on.
Last week, the House passed a bill reauthorizing Section 702, avoiding a lapse in FISA, though a separate provision ending warrantless surveillance of Americans failed to pass.
Although FISA prohibits targeting Americans, communications between U.S. citizens and foreign surveillance targets can be gathered.
While Schumer wants to move quickly on reauthorizing FISA, the legislation has received bipartisan criticism. Sens. Jon Testa, D-Mont. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ron Wyden, D-Ore. and Rand Paul, R-Ky. have all expressed concern about FISA allowing warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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