Senate Republicans seek concessions on Biden's $106 billion request for aid to Israel, Ukraine

#Article #104259837 #SenateRepublicans #seekconcessions Senate Republicans announced Tuesday they hope make some significant changes to President Joe Biden's request for $106 billion in national security funds that includes aid Ukraine and Israel. "It's pretty clear that the supplement that was sent out is just a starting point," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at a news conference Tuesday. "We'll go over it with a fine-toothed comb." Now, just days after demand peaked, Senate Republicans are drawing lines in the sand with a particular focus on changing policies on the southern border. Their goal is to achieve policy gains while crafting a bill that will be most palatable to their colleagues in the House of Representatives. The Senate Appropriations Committee will be one take reins when it comes to shaping president's request Senate's liking. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are scheduled to appear before the committee next Tuesday, October 31, for a full review of the supplemental request. But members of the larger GOP conference have already begun to stake out their positions. Here are a few of the GOP's biggest pain points in Biden's new proposal Linking Israeli and Ukrainian financing There is little consensus among Senate Republicans on whether widely supported aid Israel should be linked to aid Ukraine, whose popularity has been waning for some time. Biden's proposal ties together funding for Ukraine and Israel, as well as border security and Taiwan. There is a small but not insignificant group of Republicans in the Senate who have repeatedly called on Senate leadership to be allowed to consider the measures separately. “Americans should be disgusted that President Biden and Washington's ruling class continue to use crisis after crisis to push massive spending packages on issues they have no business voting on together,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said in a statement. “There is overwhelming bipartisan support for Israel, and we can get an aid package through the Senate quickly. The same cannot be said for Biden's demands for Ukraine aid, which are much broader than lethal aid to defeat Putin. " But on Tuesday, McConnell actually supported Biden's move tie money to Ukraine funding for Israel, Taiwan and the border. He said threats to Ukraine and Israel were "part of a worldwide problem that must be addressed in its entirety, not piecemeal." “I think it should be comprehensive,” McConnell said of ditional request. “I think all of these things need to be addressed because they are all interconnected.” It seems unlikely that the Senate will split the package. Not enough Republicans oppose moving the funds en bloc, and there are also concerns about how long it would take to move several separate packages. “Just from a planning standpoint, it's hard to see how you could get this done here with any speed if you had to move all these bills separately,” Senate Minority Rep. John Thune said. Without a House speaker, it's not entirely clear what the House woul