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Democrats pushing forward with Ukraine and Israel aid amid growing dispute over border funding
Washington — Senate Democrats are moving ahead with a vote this week on President Biden’s request for $106 billion in emergency funding, including billions in foreign aid, amid a growing dispute with Republicans over security funding for the U.S.-Mexico border.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York set up a key procedural vote on the supplemental spending package that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan for Wednesday. The vote is expected to fail, absent a last-minute deal on border funding that has so far eluded lawmakers.
“Sometimes a failed cloture vote is just a failed cloture vote, and tomorrow we are going to fail to pass it,” Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, said Tuesday, referring to the legislative maneuver to end debate on a bill. “And then people are going to have to sharpen their pencils and spend the next week negotiating a deal that keeps America’s commitment not just to Ukraine, but to democracies around the world.”
The fight over border funding
Stephanie Scarbrough / AP
Schumer blamed Republicans for Congress’ inability to approve the emergency funding, saying hard-liners are insisting on attaching controversial immigration policy changes to the supplemental bill. A bipartisan group of Senate negotiators have been meeting in recent weeks to try and reach a consensus, but those talks seemed to reach an impasse over the weekend.
“Republicans pulled the goalposts way back and proposed many items plucked directly from H.R. 2,” Schumer said Tuesday, referring to a Republican-backed immigration bill that passed the House earlier this year with no Democratic support.
He said GOP negotiators proposed granting the executive branch the authority to detain asylum-seekers indefinitely and essentially shut down the country’s immigration system, which are nonstarters with Democrats.
“If funding for Ukraine fails, it will not be a bipartisan failure,” Schumer said. “It will be a failure solely caused by the Republican Party and the Republican leadership because it was a decision of that Republican leadership, pushed by the hard right, many of whom want Ukraine to fail, to make border [aid] a precondition to supporting Ukraine.”
Republican Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have pushed back on the House GOP demand that the border component be the same as its immigration bill. The two, along with Bennet, have been part of the small bipartisan group of senators negotiating a border security package.
“I’ve heard a lot of people say H.R. 2 or nothing,” Lankford said Tuesday. “And I’ve always smiled and said, House Republicans didn’t get a single Democrat on H.R. 2, and they’re asking us to get 20 on our side. OK, well, that’s not realistic. I’m not about making a message at the end of this. We’ve got to actually make law at the end of this.”
Lankford said he was confident lawmakers could reach a deal by the end of the year.
“It’s just a matter of everybody staying at the table to be able to finish everything out,” he said.
The White House warned Congress on Monday that the U.S. will run out of funding to assist Ukraine by the end of the year, which it said would “kneecap” the country in its war against Russia.
In response to the White House, House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana reiterated that Ukraine aid is “dependent upon enactment of transformative change to our nation’s border security laws” and that he wants the administration to provide specifics about where the funding is going and the endgame in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy planned to address senators by video on Tuesday in a classified briefing but was ultimately unable to attend. Before the change of plans, Schumer noted it would have been the third time Zelenskyy had addressed senators since Russia invaded Ukraine.
“The last time he spoke to us, his message was direct and unsparing,” Schumer said. “Without more aid from Congress, Ukraine does not have the means to defeat Vladimir Putin. Without more aid from Congress, Ukraine may fall. Democracy in Europe will be imperiled, and those who think Vladimir Putin will stop merely at Ukraine willfully ignore the clear and unmistakable warnings of history.”
National security adviser Jake Sullivan and other administration officials briefed House lawmakers on Ukraine on Tuesday.
Alan He and Ellis Kim contributed reporting.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.