The US Senate approved $95 billion in aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The aid bill now goes to President Joe Biden for approval after a lot of arguments about how much the US should help in other countries’ wars.
The Senate approved the bill with a vote of 79-18 on Tuesday, after the House had already agreed to it on Saturday. Biden worked with other government leaders to get their support. He will sign the law soon and begin sending weapons to Ukraine. Ukraine is having a hard time fighting against Russia. The new law would give $26 billion to help Israel during times of war and provide help to people in Gaza. It would also give $8 billion to protect Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region from threats by China.
US officials have said that around $1 billion of the aid could be coming soon, and most of it will arrive in the next few weeks.
Senate leader Chuck Schumer said to The Associated Press that if Congress didn’t pass the aid, America would have had problems with the economy, politics, and military.
He said that there are very few things we have done that are as historically important as this.
Schumer said in the Senate that the US will support its allies.
Schumer and McConnell both agreed that passing the law to help Ukraine and Israel was very important. They said it was necessary to make sure it passes, and that there could be serious problems for the US and its friends if Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is not stopped from being aggressive. They worked with House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is a member of the Republican party, to overcome strong Republican opposition to the aid for Ukraine. In the end, they were able to get a lot of support for the aid from both the House and the Senate.
McConnell said in another interview before the vote that it “is one of the most important days since I started working here. ”
“In this episode, I think we defeated the isolationists,” McConnell said.
The House said “yes” to the package after voting four times on Saturday. The part of the package for Ukraine was approved by a vote of 311-112.
Ukraine really needs help because it is in the middle of a war and Russia keeps attacking. They are getting $61 billion to help with new weapons and support. Ukrainian soldiers are having a hard time because Russia is winning battles and taking over a lot of land.
Biden told the Ukrainian President that the US will send important air defense weapons once the new law is approved.
“The President told me that the package will be approved fast and it will help make our air defense, long-range, and artillery stronger,” Zelenskyy said on Monday.
In order to get more support, the Republicans in the House majority included a bill in the foreign aid package. This bill might stop the social media app TikTok from being used in the US if its Chinese owners do not sell their part of the company within a year. That law was supported by members of both political parties in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The TikTok bill was one of many changes made by Johnson to the package that the Senate approved in February. He did this to try to get the bill through the House, even though many people in his group disagreed with it. Other changes include a rule that $9 billion of the help for Ukraine doesn’t have to be paid back, rules that let the US take Russian bank money to help Ukraine, and laws to punish Iran, Russia, China and bad guys who sell fentanyl.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who usually supports war and military action, voted against the foreign aid package in February. He did this because the package didn’t include a law to stop people from crossing the border. But now he changed his vote, along with some other Republicans. Graham said that if we don’t help Ukraine now, this war will spread, and Americans who are not involved will be involved. If we help Ukraine, it can prevent the war from spreading and keep Americans safe.
Many members of Congress have supported the package since Biden asked for the money last summer. However, leaders in Congress had to deal with a lot of people who disagree with getting involved in foreign wars and think Congress should focus on the increase in people coming across the US-Mexico border instead.
Ohio’s Sen JD Vance, a Republican who supports Donald Trump, said that while many Republicans are backing funding for Ukraine’s defense, more and more Republicans are starting to oppose it.
Vance said, “The United States is trying to do too much at once. This idea is convincing the American people and slowly convincing the Senate, but it won’t happen quickly. ”
The Republican Party is divided between conservatives who doubt the aid and those who strongly support it. This division could be very important for the party leaders’ careers.
McConnell, who really cares about helping Ukraine, said last month that he would quit his position as a leader. He felt like he didn’t agree with many people in his group on helping Ukraine and other problems. Johnson faces getting kicked out of his position because most Republicans didn’t agree with sending help to Ukraine. He placed the bills on the floor after asking for guidance.
Johnson said that after the House approved the bill, he believes that we did a good job and history will think so too.
Some senators in the Senate, just like in the House, don’t want to help Israel because they think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has attacked Gaza and killed lots of innocent people. SenatorsBernie Sanders from Vermont and Jeff Merkley from Oregon said no to the package.
“We need to stop being involved in this awful war,” Sanders said.
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US Senate overwhelmingly approves Ukraine’s aid
