Plan B: US Senate to Consider Separate Aid Bill for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan

The Majority Leader in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, has devised a "Plan B" following the unsuccessful vote on a bill aimed at strengthening migration policy, which also included additional funding for Ukraine. According to his plan, the Senate is set to address the issues of aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan separately from the border issues, as reported by Politico. The relevant vote is expected in the latter half of February 8th.

Schumer's decision came after the Senate's plan regarding border security, which had been under discussion for several months to unlock aid for Ukraine and Israel, failed just days after its unveiling.

An aide to one of the Democratic senators shared insider information that Schumer has already informed colleagues about his plan and intends to implement it after the attempt to vote on the comprehensive project fails. Senators hope that the project in this form can be accepted, requiring 60 votes.

This was confirmed by Ukraine's Ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova. According to her, since the failure of the vote on the large package, which includes immigration reform, was expected, the appropriations' committee published the text of another document before the vote, specifically addressing international aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

"The Senate supported a procedural decision to reconsider the voting decision, which is necessary to vote on the issue of ending debates and considering the substance of a 'clean' US international aid bill without immigration reform, introduced earlier today by Senator P. Murray. This will require 60 votes," explained Markarova on Facebook.

It is worth noting that on Wednesday, February 7th, the US Senate predictably rejected a bill on border security, which included provisions for aid to Ukraine—a bipartisan bill on border security totaling $118 billion, which also allocates over $60 billion in aid to Ukraine and over $14 billion to Israel. Donald Trump, in particular, actively opposed the passage of this bill, intending to utilize the migration issue in his election campaign.

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives Congress on Tuesday failed to pass a separate bill aimed at providing $17.6 billion in military aid to Israel.