Senators headed home for the weekend without clearing a $40.1 billion emergency spending package for Ukraine that the White House says is needed by late next week, when previously appropriated funds are expected to run out.
Party leaders cleared all but one obstruction to the Ukraine supplemental on Thursday. But the hold on the bill from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., led Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer to start the cloture process, which could drag out final passage until the middle of next week.
The first step is a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the bill, which is set to ripen at 5:30 p.m. Monday. Assuming there are 60 votes for cloture, then there would be up to 30 hours of debate just on the motion to proceed unless there’s agreement to cut that time short. Then, senators would need to go through the same procedure to end debate on the bill and move to final passage.
