Senate Passes Foreign Aid Supplemental

Early this morning, the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid funding bill before gaveling out for the chamber’s two-week Presidents’ Day state work period. The funding bill — which includes aid for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific, the Senate Banking Committee’s Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, and $400 million for nonprofit security enhancement grants — cleared the chamber with the support of 70 senators on both sides of the aisle. However, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has signaled that he has no plans to call up the Senate’s supplemental due to the lack of border security provisions — namely the House GOP’s Secure The Border Act (H.R. 2) in its entirety. As such, supporters of the foreign aid package may need to look to a “discharge petition” to circumvent House leadership and force a vote on the floor, but it is too early to tell whether this has enough momentum to succeed.

• Meanwhile… House Republicans are set to try again on their efforts to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Last week’s vote on the impeachment resolution fell short by one vote in the narrowly-divided chamber, but there is an expectation among leadership that it will succeed now that Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was away from Washington receiving medical treatment, is back for votes. Additionally, lawmakers will consider several suspension bills out of the Foreign Affairs Committee. This includes a pair of bills (H.R. 2766; H.R. 4039) that seek to further enhance the U.S. stance against forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China.