Senator Says They Won’t Pass Biden’s Foreign Aid Proposal

(RepublicanReport.org) – On October 20, President Joe Biden addressed the nation from the Oval Office. The nation’s commander-in-chief discussed America’s response to the ongoing war in Ukraine and Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel. He also pitched his supplemental funding request to Congress. However, a key Republican senator says Biden’s foreign aid proposal won’t pass in the chamber.

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) released a fiery statement shortly after Biden’s address, stating that his proposed “slush fund” was “dead on arrival” in the Senate, “just like his budgets.” Cotton said, instead, Senate Republicans would craft a funding bill that better protected “Americans and their interests.”

The Arkansas senator raised three points of contention with the president’s supplemental spending proposal. They included the following budget requests.

$3.5 billion for the “potential needs of Gazans.” Cotton claimed that money would function as a “resupply line” for terrorists from Hamas.
$11.8 billion for non-war spending by Ukraine for programs like retirement pensions for government workers.
$4.7 billion for immigration-related services like housing and transporting migrants instead of deporting them.

A review of Biden’s supplemental request for funds shows a few discrepancies with Cotton’s claims. For instance, the $3.5 billion is allocated for use by the US State Department’s Migration and Refugee Assistance account to “address humanitarian needs … and assist refugees from Ukraine … Israel” and other locations impacted by the Russia-Ukraine and Hamas-Israel wars.

Likewise, it remains unclear whether Biden’s funding proposal will face serious opposition from Republican senators. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), sat down with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan to discuss Biden’s request for billions of dollars in aid for border security, Israel, and Ukraine.

McConnell readily conceded that he had much in common with the president regarding funding for those three areas. “We’re generally in the same place,” he said, regarding him and Biden on foreign aid, “not on the domestic side.”

The minority leader did note that Republicans would “probably request some changes” to Biden’s proposed funding for border security.