Schumer Pursues $106b NatSec Supplemental Without Clear Path To Legislation

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has announced his intentions to legislate President Biden’s USD$106 billion national security supplemental funding package in its entirety.

• Schumer's decision to move first on the bill is likely motivated by concerns that individual items of the package have now been tied to complex negotiations over policy which have failed to deliver any concrete results.
• The Ukraine funding, in particular, is linked with a deal over the US-Mexico border which Politico describes as, “perhaps the single toughest issue Congress has tackled in the past decade.” Israel aid is also under threat from a House GOP strategy which ties aid to rolling back a major IRS expansion legislated by the Inflation Reduction Act.
• NBC notes: "Under the official calendar, the House has just 12 legislative days left this year, during which top lawmakers believe they must break the logjam..." and Schumer likely believes that he can ratchet up pressure on inexperienced House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and squeeze Senate negotiators to reach a border compromise.
• Schumer in a letter to colleagues that he intends to bring the bill to the floor next week and stating that is being held up by "hyper-partisan" border conditions.
• According to Punchbowl News: “Several senators told their foreign counterparts last week that it’ll be impossible to pass more foreign aid if these talks stretch past December. And a top House Republican predicted Sunday that Congress won’t act on the supplemental until January, which ties it once again to government funding."