The Senate passed a $95.3 billion foreign aid package that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, in a 79-18 vote Tuesday night.
The legislation also imposes additional sanctions on Iran and forces ByteDance to sell TikTok.
Four bills were approved in separate votes in the House Saturday, but were passed as a package in the Senate. They now head to President Joe Biden, who has said he supports the legislation.
Utah’s two Republican senators were split over the foreign aid package, with Sen. Mike Lee voting against the legislation and Sen. Mitt Romney voting for it.
Earlier in the day, Lee spoke on the Senate floor to express frustration over Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s efforts to block amendments to the bills.
While Lee said he supports parts of the package, he criticized several aspects and accused Schumer, D-N.Y., of preventing efforts to amend the bills after the latter filled the amendment tree earlier in the day.
“What we’re witnessing is the destruction of the legislative process in the Senate,” Lee said in his Senate speech. “The Senate’s here today preparing to vote on ... a bill to send nearly $100 billion overseas, and senators are unable even to offer an amendment to that bill.”
In a statement released after the vote, Romney said the legislation “honors our commitments to our friends.”
“After months of needless delay, Congress has finally approved much-needed funding for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and the U.S. military’s operations in these key regions. Just as I did in February, I again voted for this legislation because it is very much in America’s interests to support our friends and allies in the face of threats from Russia, China, and Iran,” said Romney. “The funding in this bill not only provides critical security assistance and weapons to Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, but it also supports our own military readiness. It replenishes our weapons stockpiles, supports our defense industrial base, and provides significant funding for U.S. Navy submarine and shipbuilding programs at a time when China is dramatically increasing its naval fleet.”
In the House vote on Saturday, Utah’s four congressional representatives, all Republicans, each voted in favor of bills funding aid for Israel and Indo-Pacific allies and encouraging the sale of TikTok, but they were split on further aid for Ukraine.
President Joe Biden first requested the foreign aid last fall, per ABC. The legislation has faced opposition from Republicans — including Lee — who say lawmakers should address domestic issues like immigration and border security before sending aid overseas.
Lee pointed out several issues he has with the legislation, including financial support for “gender advisers” in Ukraine’s military and spending up to $9 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza that he argued could be seized by Hamas.
Schumer urged the Senate earlier Tuesday to pass the package “as expeditiously as possible” and “not keep our friends around the world waiting a moment longer” for aid. Lee argued Schumer’s efforts to block amendments were instead an effort to avoid questions that could have changed the outcome of the Senate’s vote.
Lee also said that the process of filling the amendment tree in order to block amendments from the opposing political party was a “barbaric practice” that both sides had used as a control tactic.
“I ask my colleagues to table the amendment tree so we can have the fair process that Sen. Schumer promised,” Lee said.
The motion to table the amendment tree failed despite support from senators in both parties. Before it was put to a vote, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., spoke in favor of the motion and said he hoped to offer two amendments of his own — to stop providing military aid to Israel, and to remove the prohibition on funding for UNRWA, a United National Palestinian relief agency.
“Members can agree with me on these issues or disagree, but they should be voted upon,” Sanders said.
A 80-19 vote advanced the package later Tuesday afternoon, setting up the vote Tuesday night.