(Daily Wire) Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who works closely with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said Friday that President Joe Biden’s request for $105 billion in foreign aid doesn’t stand a chance to pass the Senate in its current form.
Biden announced the foreign aid package that sends $60 billion to Ukraine and includes $3.5 billion for Gaza during his address to the nation on Thursday. The president touted the package as vital support for Israel as well, but the majority of the funds would go to Ukraine. While Ukraine would receive $60 billion under the aid package, Israel would be sent $14 billion for “sharpen[ing] Israel’s military edge,” to replenish its Iron Dome, and to send a message to Iran that the U.S. stands with Israel, Biden said.
“President Biden’s slush fund proposal is dead on arrival, just like his budgets. We will not spend, for example, $3.5 billion to address the ‘potential needs of Gazans,’ essentially functioning as a resupply line for Hamas terrorists,” Cotton said in a statement.
“We will also not spend $11.8 billion to fund the Ukrainian government’s own non-war spending, such as funding retirement pensions for Ukrainian government employees,” the senator added. “Nor will we spend $4.7 billion for housing, transportation, and ‘services’ for illegal aliens in the United States rather than deporting them.”
Biden sent his $105 billion request to Congress Friday hours after his Oval Office address. As the House continues to search for a speaker after Republicans’ failed attempts to elect Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Senate Democrats will quickly move to pass Biden’s budget request.
