Nine GOP Sens. Flip Votes to Help Pass Foreign Aid Bill

Ten senators — including nine Republicans — changed their position from two months ago to help advance in a procedural vote Tuesday — and finally pass — the $95 billion foreign aid package.

The Senate advanced the measure 80-19 before passing it in a final vote late Tuesday night 79-18. President Joe Biden has vowed to fast-track signing the legislation into law.

Nine GOP senators who previously voted against the aid package for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific region in February, helped to pass it along Tuesday: Katie Britt, Ala.; Tom Cotton, Ark.; Deb Fischer, Neb.; Lindsey Graham, S.C.; Cindy Hyde-Smith, Miss.; James Lankford, Okla.; Markwayne Mullin, Okla.; Pete Ricketts, Neb.; and Tim Scott, S.C.

“It’s just so much easier to go back home and say, ‘Listen, we’re asking people to pay us back when they can if they can,’ ” Graham said, according to Politico. “This is just a much better package. It’s more robust for Israel.”

Some of the nine Republicans confirmed they would vote yes in the final vote, too, The Hill reported.

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., was the lone Democrat who flipped his vote from no in February to yes.

The aid package includes $60.84 billion for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian assistance for Gaza, and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan. Further, 80% of the Ukrainian funding goes toward replenishment of American weapons and stocks and the rest is in forgivable loans. The package also advances a potential ban on TikTok and the REPO Act, which would transfer seized Russian assets to Ukraine.

“This is the right thing to do, 100%, but the issue that you had is … it’s political season. So politics had to go in front of the policy on this one. What messed up last time is the policy went in front of the politics,” Mullin told reporters, according to The Hill. “Our approach this time was to make sure the politics are set, meaning that President Trump was on board, it’s something that can be passable, it’s something that can be explained and that Republicans and Democrats are both comfortable with voting for it.”

Sen. Cynthia Lumens, R-Wyo., voted no Tuesday; she missed February’s vote. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who voted no in February, missed Tuesday’s vote.