The US would supply US$4.83 billion to assist key regional companions within the Indo-Pacific the place tensions have risen between Taiwan and China, in addition to US$2.33 billion for Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s invasion and different refugees fleeing persecution.
“The priorities on this invoice are too vital to disregard and too very important to permit politics to get in the best way,” Schumer mentioned in a press release. “The US and our allies are dealing with a number of, advanced and, in locations, coordinated challenges from adversaries who search to disrupt democracy and develop authoritarian affect across the globe.”
The important thing abroad safety provisions of the invoice largely match what President Joe Biden requested from Congress in October, when he requested for added funds for support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
That request was stalled by Home Republicans’ insistence that it’s tied to a shift in immigration coverage.
“I urge Congress to return collectively and swiftly move this bipartisan settlement,” Biden mentioned, additionally praising the migration measures within the invoice.
Schumer mentioned the settlement would supply extra frontline personnel and asylum officers and supply “quicker and honest” immigration choices.
Mitch McConnell, the highest Senate Republican, has supported the negotiations, saying Republicans wouldn’t get a greater deal beneath a Republican White Home.
“The Senate should rigorously take into account the chance in entrance of us and put together to behave,” McConnell mentioned in a press release.
Schumer mentioned in a information convention that he had by no means labored so carefully with long-term Senate colleague McConnell as on the invoice.
“At many events we thought the negotiations had fallen aside,” Schumer mentioned.
Different congressional Republicans have mentioned Biden can enact lots of the adjustments they need to immigration coverage by way of government motion, although they’d beforehand known as for legislative motion.
Immigration is the second largest concern for People, in response to a Reuters/Ipsos ballot printed on Wednesday and is a high problem for Republicans particularly. The US Border Patrol arrested about 2 million migrants on the border in fiscal 12 months 2023.
Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to problem Biden within the November election, has campaigned closely on opposition to immigration. Home Republicans are additionally pushing forward with an effort to question Biden’s high border official, Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.