Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan receive relief from the US Senate after a long standing Bill

The Senate on Tuesday approved a billion-dollar aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, sending the bill to President Joe Biden‘s desk to take effect after six bitter months of political battles. 

The final score was 79-18, a sign of bipartisanship in an era of deep political division. “Six long months of relentless work paid off,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. on the Senate floor after an earlier procedural vote.

To approve the measure, thirty-one Republicans and forty-eight Democrats came together. That is nine more Republicans than voted in favor of the aid package during the Senate’s February consideration of it.

Along with fifteen Republicans, two Democrats, Sens. Merkley and Welch, and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders voted against the bill.

The measure, which consists of four bills, was supported by both parties and cleared the House over the weekend. 

Now that the bill has passed, it will go to Biden, who said he would sign it Wednesday after the House approved the package as four separate bills on Saturday. The bill “sends a message to the world about the strength of American leadership and strengthens our national security.” In a statement released Tuesday night, Biden declared, “We will firmly safeguard liberty and democracy against despotism and injustice.” 

“I intend to sign this bill into law to notify the people of the United States straight away as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending arms and other supplies to Ukraine within the next week,” he stated. “The demand is vital for Israel, which has just seen massive Iranian strikes, for Ukrainian soil, which Russia is continuously bombarding, and for refugees and everyone impacted by these conflicts. Even for natural disasters worldwide, such as in Gaza, Sudan, and Haiti; and for our partners who are looking for security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. I would like to express my gratitude to Senate leaders Schumer and McConnell as well as all of the senators from both parties who supported this bill. Our country and the world will be safer thanks to this important law as we stand by our allies who are protecting themselves against despots like Putin and terrorists like Hamas.”

The funding includes about $26 billion for Israel, $60 billion for Ukraine, and $8 billion for Taiwan and security in the Indo-Pacific region. In terms of spending, the legislation is similar to a $95 billion foreign aid bill passed by the Senate in February, which has failed in the House for the last weeks.

New Proposals by the US Senate

The bill also includes several other foreign policy proposals, including a measure to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its social media platform or face a national ban on the app. The provision would give ByteDance nine months to sell, although Biden could extend that deadline to a year.

A company source said TikTok would mount a “legal challenge” if signed into law. 

The foreign aid package has also been the subject of deep GOP infighting, a major reason the legislation has been stalled on Capitol Hill since Biden first proposed it in October. House Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., threatened to impeach House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), in part over its foreign aid brokering, calling it a “total betrayal” on the social media platform X.  In March, she made a motion to release the speaker, but is yet to follow through.

Those political threats and an increasingly thin Republican majority in the House of Representatives prompted Johnson to shelve the Senate’s $95 billion foreign aid bill for weeks. But Johnson decided last week to end foreign aid after the attempted attack on Iran on April 13, after which the speaker again faced bipartisan pressure to continue funding. Johnson’s employment is somewhat protected despite Greene’s threats because of the public endorsement of former President Donald Trump.” Look, we have a majority of one. , OK, he can’t go and do whatever he wants,” Trump said Monday night on “The John Fredericks Show.”