Senate gets deal for quick vote on funding, Ukraine aid

The Senate has locked in a deal to quickly pass a massive government funding bill that includes $13.6 billion in Ukraine aid.

The agreement, announced by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), puts the funding bill on a glide path to pass on Thursday night, capping off hours of would-they-won’t-they drama. 

The Senate’s passage will come less than two days after the House unveiled the $1.5 trillion government funding bill, which also includes the Ukraine money. The Senate will also need to pass a days-long continuing resolution to help buy time to get the mammoth bill to President Biden but hasn’t yet locked in an agreement to have that vote.

Schumer’s announcement is a U-turn from earlier Thursday evening, when the mammoth bill appeared to have hit a last-minute snag. 

Senators and aides say the holdup was coming from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and was tied to an unspecified concern with the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which is included in the funding bill. 

“There had been some very last-minute edits that he had wanted to try to include,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) about Sullivan’s concern with the VAWA language.

“I think we’re working on a path. … There are other things you can do later,” Murkowski said. 

A Democratic aide confirmed that Sullivan’s concern was related to the VAWA provision. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that leaders were working with Sullivan. 

A spokesperson for Sullivan indicated that the GOP senator wanted to read the legislation. 

“As he said before and has told other Senators, his focus has been on the ability to do the appropriate due diligence before voting on the bill,” the spokesperson said. 

Durbin joined Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Murkowski and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to announce the bipartisan deal at a press conference in February. It wasn’t until this week that leaders publicly revealed the reauthorization would be included in the wider omnibus package.

If passed, it would mark the first time in nearly a decade that VAWA has been reauthorized. Its last authorization lapsed after lawmakers failed to renew it in 2019.

The holdup with Sullivan comes after congressional leaders spent hours Thursday working out other GOP snags involving a handful of Republican senators who wanted an amendment vote. 

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) led a group of conservative senators earlier Thursday to try to get a vote on a standalone Ukraine aid bill. But that effort was blocked by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who warned that separating it from the omnibus would slow it down.

The House has already left town for the week and would need to pass the stand-alone bill before it could go to Biden. 

Ultimately, Republicans are getting votes as part of the agreement one from Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), one from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and one from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.).

Braun’s amendment would strip earmarks out of the bill. Kennedy wants to provide $2.5 billion in disaster relief to Louisiana and Lee wants to defund Biden vaccine mandates for medical workers, military personnel, federal employees and federal contractors.