Congress faces ‘existential moment’ over $95 billion foreign aid bill: Dem representative

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate’s $95 billion foreign aid package faces an uphill slog against House Republicans, but their Democratic counterparts say it’s crucial for maintaining global democracy.

“We are at an existential moment right now for global democracy and either the United States stands up for freedom and democracy around the world or we don’t, and we recede back into the netherworld and allow autocrats, dictators, terrorists to take over the world,” Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat from New York, told Fox News on Tuesday.

Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat from New York, said the House needs to pass a sweeping foreign aid package in order to preserve global democracy and stand up to Iran, Russia and China. Republicans have already launched a fiery opposition to the aid package. (Getty Images)

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A bipartisan group of senators passed the national security supplemental package after a lengthy overnight session that ended early Tuesday. The final vote was 70-29.

The hefty foreign aid package comes as the national debt exceeds $34.2 trillion. It includes billions for Ukraine, Israel and other foreign partners, but omits any border security provisions, something Republicans have fought for since the White House originally requested the supplemental funding package in October.

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Republicans also helped kill an earlier version of the bill, which paired foreign aid with increased border staffing, speedier deportations when migration levels exceed 5,000 a day over a seven-day rolling average and other measures.

“Border security was part of the package that essentially was vetoed by the fourth branch of government, Donald Trump, who ordered Speaker Johnson and the MAGA elements both in the House and Senate to kill it,” Rep. Jamie Raskin told Fox News.

Had Republicans “really wanted that to be part of it and weren’t just rhetorical, they would have adopted what the Senate was doing last week,” the Maryland Democrat added.

House Republicans object to the Senate’s massive foreign aid package, which doesn’t include any spending cuts to offset the $95 billion price tag. Republicans have also lobbied for the inclusion of border security and immigration measures, but led the charge against an earlier version of the bill that offered work permits to asylum recipients and set a threshold for 5,000 daily border crossings before an expedited deportation process would kick in. (Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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But Republicans like Rep. Gary Palmer from Alabama said they oppose the 5,000 a day border crossing threshold.

“What they’re trying to do is give us a border package that will allow people to continue to come into the country at a rate that, frankly, during the Obama administration, the secretary of Homeland Security said was unsustainable,” Palmer said. “Makes no sense.”

Customs and Border Protection sources told Fox News there were more than 12,000 migrant encounters on a single day in December, a new record. The surge of migrants has long overwhelmed border towns and is now putting a strain on cities across the nation.

House Speaker Mike Johnson criticized the funding package as “silent on the most pressing issue facing our country.”

“Now, in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson said in a statement late Monday. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”

Raskin suggested Democrats could use a discharge petition to bypass Johnson and bring the package to a House vote if necessary.

The Senate’s foreign aid package includes an additional $60 billion to help Kyiv fight off Russian aggression, plus $9 billion in aid for civilians in conflict areas such as Ukraine and Gaza. (National Police of Ukraine via AP)

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Goldman said the package is meant to address three adversaries the U.S. has who are “increasingly aligning themselves” — Iran, Russia and China.

The aid package allocates $60 billion in additional funding for Ukraine, which would bring the United States’ total contribution to the country’s fight against Russian aggression to more than $170 billion since February 2022. It also includes $14 billion for Israel’s fight against Hamas, nearly $5 billion for allies in the Indo-Pacific region and $9 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in Ukraine, Gaza and the West Bank.

To hear more from lawmakers, click here.

Ramiro Vargas contributed to the accompanying video.