Tommy Tuberville misses Ukraine aid vote after railing against it

• Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama has long been opposed to Ukraine aid.
• He delivered a nearly 10-minute floor speech railing against it before the bill passed on Tuesday.

Ahead of a final Senate vote to send Ukraine aid to President Joe Biden's desk, Sen. Tommy Tuberville made one last stand against it.

The Alabama Republican delivered a more than nine minute floor speech denouncing further aid on Tuesday, describing Ukraine as a "black hole with no accountability" while accusing House Republican leaders of having "sold out Americans" by allowing a vote on the bill in the first place.

"The war in Ukraine is a stalemate. It has been for a while," said Tuberville. "We should be working with Ukraine and Russia to negotiate an end to this madness."

But when the Senate actually held a voted on the bill shortly after 9 pm on Tuesday, Tuberville was one of just three senators who did not cast votes.

It's not clear why Tuberville missed the vote, and his Senate office did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. He was present earlier on Tuesday to cast procedural votes against the bill.

Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Tim Scott of South Carolina also missed the final vote. Paul has long been an opponent of Ukraine aid, while Scott said in a statement on Tuesday that he supports the bill.

Sen. Katie Britt, Tuberville's Alabama colleague, voted for the bill on Tuesday after voting against a previous version of the aid package in February.

The more than $61 billion in Ukraine aid was wrapped up in a larger $95 billion package that included more than $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian aid, aid for Taiwan, and a bill to force a sale of TikTok. Tuberville said he supported the Israel aid.

The Alabama senator has long been an opponent of Ukraine aid. In May 2022, he was one of just 11 Republican senators to vote against a $40 billion aid package for the country.

He has incorrectly described Russia as a "communist" country, despite the country's history of capitalism since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

"He can't feed his people," Tuberville said in February 2022, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "It's a communist country, so he can't feed his people, so they need more farmland."

He has also dismissed the idea of even loaning Ukraine the money, an idea championed by former President Donald Trump.

"I don't see Ukraine having anything unless they're gonna give us part of their country, and we don't want that," Tuberville told BI last month.

On Tuesday, 15 of Tuberville's Republican colleagues voted against the foreign aid bill, while three members of the Democratic caucus did the same.