U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty joined a minority of colleagues Tuesday morning in a vote against critical foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel. The $95.3 billion package — which passed the Senate 70 to 29 early on Tuesday — approves military aid for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel through the end of 2024, as well as humanitarian aid for besieged Palestinians in Gaza.
Congress has struggled for months to approve additional aid for American allies amid ongoing military campaigns in occupied Ukraine as well as Gaza, where Israel has fought accusations of genocide against Palestinians. The aid package also shows the U.S. bracing for a looming Chinese conflict in Taiwan and funds heavily stipulated humanitarian relief for Palestinian civilians. As Israel’s military campaign escalates through Palestinian territory, the United States has been increasingly embroiled in related regional violence in Yemen and Jordan, where a drone strike in January killed three American service members. A fiery American response has included bombings and a drone strike targeting Iran and Iraq.
In their opposition to military aid, both Tennessee senators joined a GOP faction rallied by conservative Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who circulated anti-aid talking points on Monday. Ranking Senate Republicans Mitch McConnell and John Thune backed the bill, which now heads toward contentious debate in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.
Addressing Senate colleagues, Blackburn decried “the drug trafficking, the human trafficking, the sex trafficking that is taking place every single day,” which, she suggests, prevented her from voting on Tuesday’s foreign aid package. In a series of posts on X, Blackburn called for a “full accounting” of spending in Ukraine and warned that humanitarian funding would fall into the hands of “Hamas terrorists.”
“Our border must come first,” she said on X. “I introduced numerous measures to improve the legislation, none of which were even considered.”
Hagerty also justified his no vote with a series of posts on X criticizing domestic border policies.
"This national security bill should require Joe Biden to secure our nation before sending billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars overseas," wrote Hagerty.
Last week, Blackburn and Hagerty helped kill a carefully negotiated bipartisan border-security bill.
Neither senator has responded to specific questions from the Scene about the United States’ role in overseas conflicts. Blackburn holds a healthy fundraising lead over her potential challenger Gloria Johnson, a Knoxville Democrat serving her fourth term in the state House, in this year’s U.S. Senate race.
