Senators are slated to work over Super Bowl weekend after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) pledged to delay votes on a $95.3 billion bill funding Ukraine, Israel and other national security priorities.
Paul called the bill “rotten” and told reporters he wouldn’t agree to speed up the timeline for voting until “hell freezes over.”
As a result, senators are moving at a snail’s pace to finish work on the emergency defense spending package, which faces an uncertain future in the GOP-controlled House.
“I’ll object to anything speeding up this rotten foreign spending bill’s passage,” he declared on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “It’s a terrible idea to put forward and pass a bill that tries to secure other countries’ borders before we secure our own. We need to address our problems here at home in a REAL way.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) informed Senate colleagues they will vote on a procedural motion to begin debate on the bill at 7 p.m. Friday.
He said senators will stay in session until the bill passes, even though the Senate was previously scheduled to take a two-week recess starting Saturday.
Schumer is offering Republicans the chance to vote on amendments if they agree to speed things up.
“I hope our Republican colleagues can work with us to reach an agreement on amendments, so we can move this process along,” he said. “Nevertheless, the Senate will keep working on this bill until the job is done.”
If Paul drags out the floor debate as long as possible, he could delay a vote on final passage until Tuesday.