After months of negotiations and political infighting, the lawmakers approved the measure in a 70-29 vote that comfortably exceeded the chamber’s 60-vote threshold for passage and sent the legislation on to the House. Twenty-two Republicans joined most Democrats to support the bill.
“It’s certainly been years, perhaps decades, since the Senate has passed a bill that so greatly impacts not just our national security, not just the security of our allies, but the security of Western democracy,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in the Senate shortly after the predawn vote.
Pass the House
Schumer told a news conference later on Tuesday he was confident the bill would pass the House with support from both parties if Republican Speaker Mike Johnson would allow a vote.
“I call on Speaker Johnson to rise to the occasion, to do the right thing: Bring this bill to the floor quickly,” Schumer said.
Johnson issued a statement before the Senate vote faulting it for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, suggesting he would not schedule a vote any time soon.
His refusal could force Democrats to attempt a rare maneuver known as a “discharge petition,” which allows members to force a House vote if they can obtain the signatures of at least 218 representatives, more than half the House’s members. The last successful discharge petition was filed in 2015.
