The Senate on Tuesday passed a foreign aid package that will allocate $95 billion in funds between Ukraine, Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific and Israel, and Texas' two Republican senators were split in their support of the bill. Sen. John Cornyn voted in favor of the aid plan, while Sen. Ted Cruz cast his vote against it, calling it “one of the toughest votes” he’s cast in the Senate.

What You Need To Know

  • Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz were split in their support of the foreign aid package that passed 79-18 in a widely bipartisan vote late Tuesday

  • In a statement Tuesday, Cruz said he supports portions of the bill, including military aid to Israel, a forced ban on TikTok and funding for Taiwan. But other elements of the bill were too “problematic” for the Republican senator to support, including the $9 billion in humanitarian aid to Gaza and $3.4 billion for migrant and refugee assistance

  • Cornyn defended his decision to vote in favor of the aid package in a post to X, formerly Twitter, saying the U.S. has responsibilities at home and internationally

  • Cornyn originally voted to advance the package in February and received backlash from Attorney General Ken Paxton that led to a social media clash between the two

The bill passed 79-18 in a widely bipartisan vote in the Senate late Tuesday.

In a statement after the vote, Cruz said he supports portions of the bill, including military aid to Israel, a forced ban on TikTok and funding for Taiwan.

He added that military aid to Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war should have come sooner and said there was a delay due to “Democrat obstruction.”

But Cruz said other elements of the bill were too “problematic” for the Republican senator to support, including the $9 billion in humanitarian aid to Gaza and $3.4 billion for migrant and refugee assistance. He also said he can’t support the bill because it does “nothing to secure the Texas-Mexico border.”

“Once again, I introduced H.R. 2 as an amendment to this bill, which would have done much-needed work to secure our border. If H.R. 2 were added to this package, I would have readily voted for Ukraine military aid. But I can’t continue to allocate funds to secure Ukraine’s border before we secure our own,” Cruz said.

Cornyn defended his decision to vote in favor of the aid package in a post to X, formerly Twitter, saying the U.S. has responsibilities at home and internationally.

Cornyn originally voted to advance the package in February and received backlash from Attorney General Ken Paxton that led to a social media clash between the two.

President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Wednesday.