Senate advances $95 billion foreign aid legislation in rare Sunday vote

The U.S. Senate advanced a foreign aid package in a rare Sunday vote that puts the bill on track to pass later this week despite vocal opposition from conservative Republicans. 

The 67-27 procedural vote Sunday brings the chamber closer to a vote on a $95 billion aid package, which includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $4.8 billion for the Indo-Pacific and $9 billion in humanitarian assistance in Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine, per The Hill. 

"I can't remember the last time the Senate was in session on Super Bowl Sunday," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said before the vote Sunday, according to CBS News. "But as I've said all week long, we're going to keep working on this bill until the job is done."

Republicans have called for border security funding alongside foreign aid, and they released a bipartisan border security deal last week that the Senate GOP blocked days later following opposition from House Republicans and former President Donald Trump. 

"Ukraine is dangerously low on supplies, including ammo and air defenses. If America doesn’t assist Ukraine, Putin is all too likely to succeed," Schumer said on the Senate floor. 

"Our partners don’t have the luxury of pretending that the world’s most dangerous aggressors are someone else’s problem. And neither do we," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said after Schumer spoke. "It is no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the world are on the United States Senate."

If the bill makes it through the Senate, it still faces an uncertain fate in the House.  

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