The Biden administration is currently working on a $100 billion foreign aid package that includes assistance for Israel as well as other top security priorities, according to people familiar with the details.
While Democrats like Chuck Schumer praised the request, saying it sends a “clear message” to “friends and allies that we have your back.”
The chances of Biden’s administration getting the money doesn’t look good.
On Friday, Republican Senator Tom Cotton declared that Joe Biden’s $100 billion foreign aid and national security funding request is “dead on arrival.”
President Biden’s slush fund proposal is dead on arrival, just like his budgets.
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) October 20, 2023
From The Hill:
“President Biden’s slush fund proposal is dead on arrival, just like his budgets,” Cotton said in a statement.
“We will not spend, for example, $3.5 billion to address the ‘potential needs of Gazans,” he added, arguing that humanitarian assistance to Gaza could inadvertently fund “a resupply line for Hamas terrorists.”
Cotton balked at spending $11.8 billion to fund Ukraine’s nonmilitary needs, such as retirement pensions for Ukrainian government employees.
“Nor will we spend $4.7 billion for housing, transportation, and ‘services’ for illegal aliens in the United States rather than deporting them,” he warned.
Cotton’s tough talk signals a difficult negotiation ahead on Biden’s request for emergency funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
Senate Republicans say that any new money for the war in Ukraine must be paired with changes to immigration and asylum policy to slow the flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.
“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 said.
Senate Republicans are expected to use Biden’s request as leverage to get their long-desired changes to U.S. asylum policies.
Some of the changes they want to make include raising the standard for migrants requesting asylum to require them to show a “reasonable” fear that they would likely be persecuted if they remain in their home counties.
They currently only have to show credible fear of prosecution.
Joe Biden has requested $61 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for military aid to Israel, and another $14 billion to address the surge of migrants at the Mexico border.
Cotton has a valid point. Even though the United States has already given Ukraine over $75 billion, Biden wants to give them an additional $61 billion while one of our oldest allies gets only $14 billion.
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