President Joe Biden has signed into law a hard-fought bill providing billions of dollars in new US aid to Ukraine for its war with Russia. The legislation, which was passed with bipartisan support, marks a significant victory for Biden as he seeks reelection and ends months of wrangling with Republicans in Congress.
In addition to the Ukraine aid, the bill also includes a separate provision that bans TikTok from operating in the United States if its owner, the Chinese tech firm ByteDance, fails to divest the popular short video app over the next nine months to a year. The social media platform is particularly popular with left-leaning young Americans, a group crucial to Biden’s victory in November.
Biden has been pressing lawmakers for six months to approve more funding for Ukraine, which has been fighting a full-scale Russian invasion for more than two years. Trump objected to the Ukraine aid, and some Republicans in Congress refused to back it. That ended when the Republican-controlled House of Representatives abruptly changed course and approved four bills that included funding for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and other US partners in the Indo-Pacific on Saturday.
Biden and House Speaker Mike Johnson held intense talks about Ukraine in February, and the president has both pleaded with Republicans to back the package and scolded them for not doing so. Johnson, who faces calls by some right-leaning Republicans to oust him for his turnaround on aid, met with Trump in Florida earlier this month; the former president said Johnson was “doing a really good job.”
The US Senate followed the House on Tuesday evening, passing a sweeping bill that provides $61 billion in aid to Ukraine. The bill was passed with bipartisan support, with all but 11 Republicans voting in favor of it.
Biden hailed the passage of the bill as a “strong message of American leadership at a time of enormous instability.””This is a strong message of American leadership at a time of enormous instability, but the delay created cracks in that credibility,” said Heather Conley, president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “As we start rolling into the election, that credibility will continue to be under close scrutiny.”
Biden has argued that he helped restore US credibility on the world stage after Trump’s tumultuous four-year tenure, in part by strengthening the NATO alliance and providing a united front against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has argued for an “America First” policy and has threatened to let NATO allies fend for themselves if they do not increase their defense spending.
Biden’s administration is already preparing a $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine, the first to be sourced from the bill, two US officials told Reuters. Republicans who backed the aid package said it was not a vote for Biden but a reflection of their party’s values.
“Peace through strength. That’s our tradition,” Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, said in a Senate speech. “To my Republican colleagues and friends in the Senate, our tradition is much more serious. It’s prouder. And I will tell you this: It’s much more supported by the American people. Peace through strength, not American retreat.”
