10 senators helped promote aid to Ukraine after voting against it

Nine Republicans and one Democrat in the Senate voted on Tuesday to move forward with a package that includes aid to Ukraine and Israel, after opposing the legislation in a vote earlier this year.

The package advanced to a final vote on Tuesday in a procedural vote of 80-19. Overall, 31 Republicans voted in favor of moving the package forward.

The package includes $61 billion for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and global humanitarian assistance, and $8 billion for allies in the Indo-Pacific. It also includes a series of national security items, headlined by a potential ban on social media giant TikTok, or at least a forced divestment.

The nine Republicans who changed their positions were: Sens. Katie Britt (Ala.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Lindsey Graham (SC), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.), James Lankford (Okla.), Markwayne Mullin (Okla.), Pete Ricketts (Nebras) and Tim Scott (SC).

All nine in February voted against advancing the legislation. They also voted “no” on final approval of the previous bill.

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) also voted Tuesday to advance the package.

In February, he voted against the relief bill for final passage but supported its passage for a final vote.

“Senator Welch also voted to advance the debate in February, despite voting against the final bill, and voted to advance the debate again today. It is not a reflection of your support for the legislation, but of your hope that the Senate will live up to its reputation as the greatest deliberative body in the world,” a spokesperson for Welch said Tuesday.

Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the GOP’s top vote counter, told The Hill he expects vote totals to remain roughly the same before the final vote on Tuesday night.

“There may be on the margins, but it will be close,” he said.

Some of the members of that group of nine praised former President Trump for his help in boosting the Republican Party’s total, especially his suggestion of turning some of Ukraine’s funding into a loan. This fourth bill also includes the REPO Act, which allows the Biden administration to seize billions of dollars in Russian assets held by U.S. banks and transfer them to Ukraine to help rebuild the country.

“What is forgotten here is that President Trump helped a lot,” Mullin told reporters during the vote. “Without Lend-Lease being there [and] the REPO Law… I don’t know if [Speaker Mike Johnson] could have moved it.

“This is the right thing to do, 100 percent, but the problem you guys have is… it’s political times. So politics had to go ahead of politics in this case. What messed up last time is that politics got ahead of policy,” Mullin continued. “Our approach this time was to make sure the policy was set, which means President Trump was on board, it’s something that can be acceptable, it’s something that can be explained and that both Republicans and Democrats feel comfortable with. vote in favor.”

Thune agreed that the loan and REPO Act, along with other changes, helped bring in some of the members who withheld their support the first time around, saying they were “additive.”

He also said that the world “has changed a lot in the last two months”, including in recent weeks, following Iran’s attack on Israel and Ukraine, dealing with dwindling ammunition in its fight against Russia.

“There are a number of factors that influence this, but each of them probably has a slight [factor],” said Thune.

Several of those nine Republicans confirmed they would also vote “yes” on final approval, including Graham, Lankford, Mullin and Scott.

Welch was one of three members who met with Senate Democrats who voted against the measure in February.

In Tuesday’s procedural vote, Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were the only members who met with Democrats who voted against moving the bill forward. They voted against its advancement because it includes unconditional aid to Israel.

This story was updated at 5:50 p.m. EDT