The US Senate on Monday set the stage for final passage of a $95.34 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, though there are doubts about the fate of the legislation in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Reuters reported.
The Senate voted 66-33, exceeding a 60-vote margin, to sweep aside the last procedural hurdle and limit debate on the measure to a final 30 hours before a vote on passage that could come on Wednesday.
Passage would only send the legislation on to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson said his Republican majority wanted the legislation to include conservative provisions to address the flow of migrants across the US-Mexico border.
"In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters," Johnson said in a statement issued just before the Senate started voting.
"America deserves better than the Senate's status quo," said Johnson, who has suggested in the past that the House could split the legislation into separate bills.
Democrats and Republicans have been haggling for month over the aid package. Republicans demand that any additional aid to Israel and Ukraine must also address the high numbers of migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border.
Last week, the US House of Representatives failed to approve a Republican-led bill that would have provided $17.6 billion to Israel.
The vote was 250 to 180, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the bill.
Opponents called the Israel legislation a political ploy by Republicans to distract from their opposition to a $118 billion Senate bill, which combines an overhaul of US immigration policy and new funding for border security with billions of dollars in emergency aid for Ukraine, Israel and partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
As lawmakers have continued to stall in approving the aid to Israel, the Biden administration bypassed Congress in December and approved the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106 million.