Senate passes package containing Ukraine aid and more

In a 79-18 vote, the U.S. Senate voted to pass a package that included Ukraine aid, Israel aid, and other items even as the America’s ever-expanding national debt is over $34 trillion.

Two Democrats, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, and 15 Republicans voted against passage, according to the Washington Post.

The package now heads to President Joe Biden, who plans to sign it.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer described the package as “one of the most consequential measures Congress has passed in years to protect America’s security and the future of Democracy.”

GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah has been a vocal opponent of the measure.

“They think they’re Churchill. They’re congratulating themselves for spending money that doesn’t belong to them—money we don’t have and will have to borrow and print. Spending other people’s money to fight someone else’s war—against their will—isn’t heroic. It’s cowardice,” Lee tweeted.

“It doesn’t end well for any political party whose elected officials repeatedly display contempt for the party’s most faithful voters,” Lee tweeted. “Dems don’t do this to their base,” he added. “Dems fight for their base, not against it,” Lee wrote.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said in a post, “Since this $95 billion package doesn’t secure our border and further plunders our children’s future, I’m voting no. Securing our own border before we secure another nation’s seems obvious to me, but apparently it is not to most in Congress.”