The Senate bogged down on Wednesday over a bill to send tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine and Israel after Senate Republicans blocked a compromise that would have paired the aid with stringent border security measures, adjourning without moving forward on the emergency national security spending package.
Democrats, pressing to salvage the aid from becoming a casualty of former President Donald J. Trump’s political campaign, promised a Thursday vote to advance a stand-alone foreign aid bill stripped of the immigration measures. But after a day of stalemate on Capitol Hill, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, announced that senators needed more time to agree on how to move forward on that alternative, which Democrats and Republicans alike said they hoped would be successful.
Mr. Schumer had hoped for a quick vote on Wednesday on what he called his “Plan B” for reviving the aid package after the border deal failed. But by Wednesday evening, action had stalled, as Senate Republicans slow-walked business on the floor while they regrouped. They held open a procedural vote for hours as they sought assurances from Democrats that if they voted to allow the stripped-down aid bill to move forward, they would be allowed to propose changes.
Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, told reporters that there were ongoing discussions about how the money to Ukraine and Israel would be distributed.
Other Republicans appeared to be stuck in an endless loop, continuing to demand border changes — only hours after voting to tank the aid package that contained them. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, was demanding the chance to add back border provisions. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina told Fox News he would oppose the stand-alone foreign aid bill because “we should first secure our southern border.”
After 7 p.m., Mr. Schumer said the Senate was recessing to “give our Republican colleagues the night to figure themselves out.”
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