Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that the combined national security package — which includes aid to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and the border — will be taken up by the chamber after Thanksgiving as senators from both parties negotiate the border policy area.
“Schumer said he wants the president’s four requests to be approved very strongly — Ukraine, Israel, humanitarian and the Indo-Pacific. We’re going to work very hard to narrow that down,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch said. One of the holdups was McConnell and his request to include border security in the package.
“We’re working with Democrats and Republicans to come up with a border security package that has bipartisan support. But we’ve got to get this done, and as we go through Thanksgiving, that’s going to be the highest priority. Get all four done, get all four done. It has the support of the parties in the House. Together,” he said.
Asked about House GOP efforts to break the package into smaller, separate bills, Schumer replied, “All four need bipartisan support, and I’m going to work hard, very hard, to get all four done.”
In a plan to avoid a government shutdown: The majority leader reiterated his support for House Speaker Mike Johnson’s short-term spending bill, despite his reservations about splitting the funding into two installments — calling the two-step idea “stupid.”
“When it comes to funding the government, as I’ve said for a long time, it has to be bipartisan. Right now, that’s the way we’re going. I’m very pleased that Speaker Johnson is moving forward with a CR (continuing resolution) — that’s for Democrats. “Precisely avoids the hard right cuts that would have been a non-starter,” Schumer said.
He added that he disagreed with everything Johnson was proposing, adding, “I can’t imagine that many senators, whether Democratic or Republican, would have taken the Speaker’s approach in crafting this bill. Senate.”
Pressed by CNN on Saturday about the White House’s rejection of the proposal, Schumer said he hoped President Joe Biden would accept the bill if it passed Congress. “I think we all want to avoid a shutdown. I’ve talked to the White House and we both agree that if we can avoid a shutdown, that’s a good thing,” he said.
Schumer said the Senate will take up the spending bill soon. “When it gets here, if the House passes it, which I’m sure they will, Chairman McConnell and I will figure out the best way to get this done quickly. Neither McConnell nor I want a shutdown,” he said, noting they discussed it yesterday.
