With months of negotiations on the toxic border issue certain to end in failure Wednesday, Senate Republicans are indicating they might be willing to advance a more straightforward aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to force votes on a foreign assistance package with border security policies Wednesday afternoon, which Republicans say they will reject. Then Schumer will move to a package without the border component — which will also include the Fend Off Fentanyl Act.

“First Republicans said they would only do Ukraine and Israel and humanitarian aid with border, then they said they would not do it with border. Well we’re gonna give them both options,” Schumer told reporters on Wednesday morning.

Ahead of those votes, the GOP is meeting to debate the path forward. Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he will vote to advance the borderless supplemental and predicts there will be 60 votes to move it.

“The whip is doing a check right now. I’m optimistic,” Wicker said.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said in an interview that they’re “trying to determine whether or not Schumer will allow amendment votes.” He added that “process is going to matter.”

Illustrating that point, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said he would vote to advance the border-free bill provided there was an agreement to vote on amendments. Schumer said he was committed to a “fair and open-ended process.”

Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) released text of the latest attempt at a supplemental spending bill on Wednesday. The language includes aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and humanitarian assistance and excludes any border funding or policy changes.

“After demanding border policy changes in exchange for passing aid to Ukraine, Republicans are poised to reject the very thing they insisted upon for months,” Murray wrote in a statement. “But far too much hangs in the balance to give up now.”

A two-week recess is scheduled to start this weekend, and any one senator can drag out the foreign assistance package; several conservative senators are likely to do so over opposition to Ukraine funding. But there’s also a possibility Republicans are ready to move on after the disastrous border negotiations, a failed House vote on Israel aid and looming government funding deadlines.

“If we have a full amendment and a debate process, then I’m okay with that. But if (Schumer) is gonna try to just deny any opportunity to offer amendments and jam it through them, I’m not gonna support it,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Over in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson said he’s waiting to “see what the Senate does.”

“We spend a lot of time on the House side of waiting, awaiting the Senate’s action,” Johnson told reporters. “And it’s frustrating sometimes but that’s the way the process works.”

Ursula Perano and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to specify whether he made a personal plea for Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to leave his hospital bed to oppose the ultimately unsuccessful impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“He made it clear to me that it was important for him to be present to cast a vote against the sham impeachment,” Jeffries said at his weekly press conference, in response to a question about a specific ask to Green.

Jeffries also said his party didn’t advise House Republicans about their attendance situation. “It’s not our responsibility to let House Republicans know which members will or will not be present on the House floor,” he said.

The impeachment effort against Mayorkas ultimately failed 214-216, with a handful of GOP nos joining all Democrats. Republicans have vowed to try again once Majority Leader Steve Scalise returns from cancer treatments.

Mitch McConnell essentially declared the border security-foreign aid package dead on Tuesday, telling reporters “we have no real chance here to make a law.”

The Senate minority leader stressed there are parts of the national security supplemental — which included border policy changes as well as aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — that he believes are worth revisiting. On Tuesday morning, he was still stumping for Ukraine aid on the floor.

But after four months of border policy negotiations, which McConnell had personally called for and repeatedly supported, the GOP leader said the deal lacks support in his conference. And he noted staunch opposition from House Republican leadership.

“We had a very robust discussion about whether or not this product could ever become law,” McConnell said after the Senate GOP’s Tuesday lunch. “And it’s been made a pretty clear to us by the speaker that it will not become law.”

The remarks come one day before Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to hold a procedural vote to begin debate on the bill. Schumer, who spoke shortly after McConnell broke the news, said Senate Democrats expressed “anger” and “deep disappointment” over the Republican stance at their Tuesday lunch.

“Leader McConnell and the Republican Conference did a 180-degree reversal,” Schumer said. “They’re quaking at the knees in fear of Donald Trump.”

The question is now whether the Senate will go back to a standalone Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan aid package. The White House originally requested that package last fall, along with border funding, before Republicans demanded significant border policy changes be added to the deal in exchange for Ukraine aid. McConnell on Tuesday said Democratic leadership should “repackage” those foreign assistance provisions.

Schumer would not say whether he’d go back to a bill focusing on just Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan aid.

The House failed to pass a clean $17.6 billion Israel aid bill on Tuesday as Congress struggles to find some vehicle that could clear critical money for foreign allies.

The measure to aid the U.S. ally in its war against Hamas went down 250-180, and was considered under an expedited procedure requiring two-thirds support. Nearly four dozen Democrats voted yes while more than a dozen Republicans opposed the measure.

The White House had derided it as a “cynical political maneuver,” as Republicans roundly reject a more comprehensive and bipartisan border security-foreign aid deal negotiated in the Senate.

“It’s just a political stunt by the Republicans and the speaker,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. “This political stuff does not include any humanitarian assistance.”

House lawmakers previously cleared an Israel aid bill in November — paired with cuts to the IRS — but the legislation failed to gain Senate traction.

“There’s no time for hesitation,” said Speaker Mike Johnson alongside Amir Ohana, speaker of the Israeli Knesset, on Tuesday. “History beckons us to act boldly and decisively to defend Israel and our own citizens.”

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), a former member of Democratic leadership, said he’s implored Johnson to place the bills providing foreign assistance on the floor individually. But he wants the Israel bill to include humanitarian aid for Gaza as well.

“I believe that there are 300 votes for Ukraine. There are 400 votes for Israel,” he said in an interview. “Not putting humanitarian aid in this bill is a despicable continuation of Republican policy, which says to the American people and the rest of the world: You’re on your own.”

Progressives also rejected the idea of supporting legislation without assistance for Palestinians.

“There’s no conditions on any aid and there’s horrific stuff going on,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “There’s no Ukraine aid in here. This is just a way for Speaker Johnson to try to change the discussion.”

What comes next: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) pitched a bill with a combination of Israel and Ukraine aid along with “countering China.”

“It would probably come back from the Senate, would be my guess,” he said in an interview.

In a statement Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reiterated his position that aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan should move alongside border security changes.

Rep. Tom McClintock said on Tuesday that he will oppose impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — meaning Republicans have literally no room for error.

If Democrats have full attendance, House GOP leaders can’t afford to have any additional absences or lose a single other GOP vote.

McClintock (R-Calif.), in a lengthy letter to his colleagues, argued that the GOP articles against Mayorkas stretched how the founders would define an impeachable offense. And he warned that, if successful, Republicans were setting a precedent that Democrats might use against them in the future.

“Do Republicans really wish to establish an expansive view of impeachment that will surely be turned against conservatives on the Supreme Court or a future Republican president if Congress changes hands?” McClintock wrote.

He added that while a Cabinet official could be removed for committing a crime, that House Republicans were trying to cross a “bright line” by recommending he be removed from office for carrying out President Joe Biden’s policy decisions on the border. The articles of impeachment against Mayorkas accuse him of a breach of trust and refusing to comply with the law.

McClintock is the second GOP “no” vote in addition to Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who announced last week that he would oppose the historic step of impeaching Mayorkas. A Cabinet official hasn’t been impeached since 1876. McClintock’s opposition, though long expected, underscores the uncertainty heading into Tuesday’s scheduled vote.

Failing to impeach Mayorkas would mark an embarrassing political setback for House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson, who have faced intense pressure from their base to impeach Biden or a top official. A failure to impeach Mayorkas could further imperil hopes to eventually impeach the president as well.

There are still several lawmakers who are still publicly undecided, including Reps. David Joyce (R-Ohio), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.). And Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s expected absence as he undergoes treatment for blood cancer. If one more holdout votes against impeaching Mayorkas and Democrats have full attendance, the measure would fail.

Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.), asked if he believed he had the votes on Tuesday, said: “We’ll see pretty soon.”

Senate Republicans are clear that they won’t vote to advance bipartisan border and foreign aid legislation on Wednesday. The only remaining question is whether that’s the end of discussion — or just a strategy to push for more time.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is the latest senior GOP conference member to say he’d oppose advancing the legislation this week, arguing that lawmakers “need more time” but adding: “I’m pretty confident we can do better with a new president who actually will enforce the law.”

Some made clear they’d like more time for the Republican conference to consider the proposal, reached between Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) and released over the weekend.

“My intention is to, at least on the motion to proceed, to vote where I think most our conference is going to be — which is no,” said Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.).

However, it’s far from clear even to Lankford whether GOP senators want to take more time on the legislation, which some have pushed for open amendments to, or fully stop work on it. If the bipartisan approach implodes fully amid the Republican resistance, Democratic leaders have not revealed whether or how they plan to win passage of aid to Ukraine and Israel.

Lankford told reporters that “if we’re actually delaying so we can actually get stuff done — and to be able to actually do a passage [vote] — I’m fine to be able to delay” but that “we need to do something.”

Asked jokingly by a reporter how he felt being run over by a metaphorical bus by GOP colleagues opposing his work, Lankford scoffed” “And backed up [over].”

Lead Democratic negotiator Murphy said his Republican colleagues were “not serious people” and slammed their treatment of Lankford’s efforts as “disgusting.”

“How can you trust any Republican right now? How would we know what to do next?” he asked. “They told us what to do. We follow their instructions to the letter, and then they pulled the rug out from under us in 24 hours.”

He added: “They didn’t even give [Lankford] the chance to argue the merits. These are not serious people.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed the abrupt about-face from GOP lawmakers during a floor speech, giving no indication that he would abandon plans to vote on taking up the bill this week.

“This is the new Republican line on the border: it’s an emergency, but it can wait 12 months – or until the end of time,” he said. “What utter bunk.”

John Barrasso, the Senate’s No. 3 GOP leader, opposes the bipartisan border and Ukraine deal — the latest sign of the legislation’s grim prospects.

The Senate Republican conference chair said in a statement to POLITICO that unlike some of his colleagues who have process complaints, he opposes the underlying legislation. Barrasso said the deal “does not meet most Americans’ standard of securing our border now.”

“Joe Biden will never enforce any new law and refuses to use the tools he already has today to end this crisis. I cannot vote for this bill. Americans will turn to the upcoming election to end the border crisis,” Barrasso said.

Barrasso did defend Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) for negotiating the bill, but his opposition is just another stumbling block for the legislation, which is opposed by Speaker Mike Johnson and former President Donald Trump.

Barrasso, who has endorsed Trump in 2024, is widely seen as the most conservative member of top GOP leadership. He is also one of three Republicans in the mix to succeed Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The other two potential successors, Senate Minority Whip John Thune and Sen. John Cornyn, are both undecided on the border legislation.