Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he won't support any stopgap spending measure that congressional leaders are pushing to pass before Sept. 30, the deadline before a government shutdown begins, if it includes funding for Ukraine.

"Today I'm putting congressional leadership & @POTUS on notice that I will oppose any effort to hold the federal government hostage for Ukraine funding," Paul said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "I will not consent to expedited passage of any spending measure that provides any more US aid to Ukraine."

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The Kentucky senator later reiterated his comments during a Senate floor speech on Wednesday, where he pointed to Ukraine's lagging counteroffensive against Russia as a deterrent to more aid. "It's as if no one has noticed that we have no extra money to send to Ukraine," he said. "Our deficit this year will exceed $1.5 trillion. Borrowing money from China to send it to Ukraine makes no sense."

"There's a lot of things that we need to fix in our country before we borrow money to try to perpetuate a war in another country," he continued. "When will the aid requests, and when will the war end? Can someone explain what victory in Ukraine looks like? President Biden certainly can't. His administration has failed to articulate a clear strategy or objective in this war, and Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive has failed to make meaningful gains in the east."

Paul's announcement on Wednesday is another sign of the increasing inevitability that Congress won't successfully pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded for another month, giving the House and Senate more time to pass the 12 appropriations bills needed to keep the government functioning.

Although the Senate appears more united in approving federal spending legislation compared to the House, Paul's announcement means that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will likely need to go through a time-consuming process that would delay passing legislation to fund the government if it includes Ukraine aid. And with Congress only having 10 days before a government shutdown is implemented, there isn't much time to waste.

The Biden administration requested an emergency supplemental that includes $24 billion in Ukraine aid last month, which House Republicans have rebelled against. It appeared that Schumer had the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and other Republican Senate leaders in including Ukraine funding, but Paul has become the latest lawmaker to throw a wrench in their unity, which he alluded to in his Senate speech.

"A CNN poll from August shows that a majority of Americans now oppose Congress authorizing additional funding to Ukraine. And now there are those in the Senate who would refuse to listen to these voices," he said. "Voices coming from a war-weary nation, and it would hold the federal government hostage by inserting $24 billion more for Ukraine," Paul added. "They're talking about saying the only way government stays open, the only way we avoid a shutdown, is by shuffling more American taxpayer dollars to Ukraine."

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has so far been unable to persuade conservative hard-liners to support a continuing resolution to fund the federal government. The House also failed to pass a vote to begin debate on the annual defense appropriations bill on Tuesday. There is enough GOP opposition to block the stopgap measure to keep the government open, while the Senate is struggling to pass a "minibus," combining three spending bills into one, due to Sen. Ron Johnson's (R-WI) blockade. Johnson has pushed for the Senate to take up each appropriations bill individually instead. However, it appears that Johnson on Tuesday came to a compromise to bypass his blockade in exchange for an amendment vote on legislation to end government shutdowns.

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Also adding to the federal shutdown battle is that Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) and ranking member Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) are pushing through all 12 appropriations bills according to fiscal spending levels set by McCarthy and the Biden administration during the debt ceiling process in May and June. But House Republicans balked and are pushing to keep spending levels at fiscal 2022, which is at odds with the previous levels McCarthy agreed to.

Any federal spending bill that keeps the government functioning past Sept. 30 will need bipartisan support as Democrats control the Senate and the White House and have already expressed their disinterest in the House's continuing resolution.