The Senate Appropriations Committee voted on a bipartisan basis on Thursday to extend the U.S. freeze on aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency through at least the end of the 2025 fiscal year, making it increasingly likely that U.S. aid to the troubled U.N. agency will remain blocked into the foreseeable future.

Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT), Joe Manchin (I-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) voted with Republicans in favor of an amendment extending the UNRWA aid hold, which was opposed by most Democrats on the committee. The House already approved a bill containing a similar provision.

The committee’s debate over UNRWA largely followed now-familiar arguments.

Republicans highlighted links between UNRWA personnel and Hamas and the Oct. 7 attack, as well as the Hamas facilities found under UNRWA facilities, UNRWA’s teaching of antisemitic materials in schools and the findings of an independent review of UNRWA that it had violated its own policies. They also noted that the U.S. is providing additional aid to the Palestinians through other channels.

Multiple Republicans said they wouldn’t support the bill, under any circumstances, if the bill allowed aid to UNRWA to resume.

Democrats argued that there’s no viable replacement mechanism for UNRWA and that defunding it would destabilize not just Gaza and the West Bank but the entire region, including Jordan and Lebanon. They also noted that U.S. allies have seen fit to resume their own assistance to UNRWA.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) claimed that the Israeli government’s allegations that a large percentage UNRWA personnel are members of or linked to terrorist groups “do not hold up,” and that the push to eliminate UNRWA “is not based in facts,” but rather longtime grievances of the Israeli right.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the ranking Republican on the subcommittee, said that UNRWA is “dead to me” and other Republicans and that he will never approve “another penny” for the agency barring a full restructuring, based only on the Hamas ties and other malfeasance that has been verified publicly.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, noted that UNRWA and the region have not collapsed despite the U.S. funding pause in place since early this year and that the U.N. and other international bodies have had time to begin to stand up alternatives.

Van Hollen and Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) ultimately voted against the bill over the UNRWA aid cut.

The committee subsequently passed another amendment proposed by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), the chairman of the subcommittee responsible for the bill, that would lay out conditions and procedures governing a future resumption of aid to UNRWA.

It would require that no funding be provided to UNRWA until it begins implementing the recommendations of an independent review of its operations; that it has completed more stringent vetting of its personnel in Gaza in connection with Israel when appropriate; that it has responded to any issues identified in that vetting and is fixing policy violations; and that it has shared steps it is taking to show its commitment to reforms.

It would also instruct the State Department to provide funding to build alternative aid mechanisms for Gaza and the West Bank.

“My expectation is, no matter what happens here today, the prohibition on funding of UNRWA remains,” Coons said, adding that the language he introduced could be part of negotiations between the House and Senate.

The bill approved by the Appropriations Committee would also provide $2 million for the State Department’s antisemitism envoy, a funding boost of just $250,000 over last year and significantly below the $3 million requested by a bipartisan group of 36 senators and the $2.5 million proposed by the House.

During the committee’s meeting, Graham criticized Republican colleagues in the House for seeking to cut funding by $10 billion for foreign programs generally. He particularly highlighted that U.S. diplomats abroad are under threat from Iran and other adversaries, and said cutting funding could endanger them, as well as make armed conflict more likely.

“It makes no sense,” Graham said. “This 1% of the federal budget is used to protect those who are in harm’s way, representing our interests in far away places. It’s used to help people save lives.”

While the House’s version of the bill seeks to strip most funding from the United Nations, the Senate bill includes $2.9 billion for various U.N. contributions and dues, and would increase funding seeking to place Americans in jobs at the U.N., framed as an effort to preserve U.S. influence.

The bill would preserve a variety of provisions from previous years’ bills, including restrictions on funding to the Palestinians, limitations on funding for the U.N. Human Rights Council unless it takes steps to remove Israel as a permanent agenda item, a block on funding for the U.N.’s Commission of Inquiry into Israel, oversight provisions for funding for Gaza and the West Bank, a prohibition on moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel out of Jerusalem, funding to counter Iran’s nuclear program and promote democracy and restrictions on funding for Saudi Arabia.

It also seeks to condition $320 million of the $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid to Egypt on human rights progress, a provision the State Department has waived in the past. A new provision would functionally block Egypt from using interest earned on the military funds from being used to purchase weapons, requiring that equivalent funding be redirected toward democracy, human rights and economic programs.

It would provide $50 million for the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act, $4 million for U.S.-Israel development cooperation programs, $55 million for Middle East scientific partnership programs and $1.65 billion for Jordan — $845 million in budget support funding and $425 million in military funding.

As part of a package of amendments, the committee also approved an amendment by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) requiring regular reports to Congress on senior State Department officials who have had their security clearances revoked or suspended — likely a response to the case of Iran envoy Rob Malley, and an amendment by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recommending that the State Department provide military funding for Bahrain at least matching 2023 funding levels.

The report accompanying the bill requests that the State Department brief Congress on efforts to ensure sufficient staffing in the antisemitism envoy’s office; report to Congress on whether the U.N. is taking steps to combat anti-Israel bias, alert donors when funds are stolen and vet staff for terrorist ties; and report to Congress on the delivery of agricultural products and animal feed to Gaza and the West Bank

Van Hollen also presented, but didn’t request a vote, on an amendment relating to settler violence and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.