Dem
51
GOP
49
Joe Biden asked Congress to approve $106 billion for aid to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and for beefing up border security. The border part is proving to be very difficult. Basically, Republicans know Biden really wants the aid parts so they are demanding that the border be shut down and nobody new allowed in. This is a nonstarter for many Democrats. The lead Democrat in the negotiations, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), said that the discussions have fallen apart. The lead Republican, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), was more bullish about the state of the talks. He said: "We're still swapping paperwork and we're still having conversations. This doesn't feel like a breakdown to me."
The Republicans are by far in a stronger position here. They wouldn't mind the funding bill failing as it would show Biden as being weak. Also, many Republicans don't want to fund Ukraine anymore. If the bill failed, they would introduce a new bill to fund only Israel and Democrats would probably grudgingly vote for it. Democrats really want to fund Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, but find shutting down the border completely too high a price to pay. But what do they do when Republicans simply say: "OK, then no bill. Bye."
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) is also in the mix, in part because her state has a long border with Mexico and in part because she is one of the few senators who has at least some credibility with both parties. She is suggesting that both parties have to be more realistic about what can be achieved. They don't seem to want to do that now.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said he might hold a vote on the bill this week. Lankford responded by saying that if he did, Republicans would filibuster it. Since Ukraine is running out of weapons and ammo, Democrats are under a lot of pressure to give Republicans most of what they want, but they don't want to. The weird thing is that closing the border would take away one of the Republicans' strongest arguments against Democrats in 2024, but for internal reasons, they don't want to accept the gift the Republicans are trying to hand them. (V)