The Senate is set to reconvene in Washington on Tuesday to cast their votes on a $95 billion war aid package slated for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. This decision comes after months of contemplation and internal debates within Congress regarding the extent of US involvement in global affairs. The legislation, now poised to reach President Joe Biden’s desk, allocates $61 billion to Ukraine, reflecting the urgent need for additional firepower in the face of escalating attacks by Russian forces.
President Vladimir Putin’s intensified assaults have placed Ukrainian soldiers under immense pressure, leading to significant territorial losses for the country. In a recent conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Biden assured him of the imminent delivery of crucial air defense weaponry.
The House of Representatives endorsed the aid package through a series of votes on Saturday, prompting its return to the Senate for final approval. “The President has assured me that the package will be approved quickly and that it will be powerful, strengthening our air defense as well as long-range and artillery capabilities,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Beyond Ukraine, the legislation also allocates $26 billion in wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza. An additional $8 billion is earmarked for countering China’s influence in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region.
In an effort to gain more votes, Republicans in the House majority also added a bill to the package that could potentially ban the social media app TikTok in the US if its Chinese owners do not divest their stake within a year. This foreign aid component largely mirrors what the Senate passed in February, with some minor changes and additions, including the TikTok bill and a stipulation that $9 billion of the economic aid to Ukraine be in the form of “forgivable loans.”
The package has garnered broad congressional support since Biden initially requested the funding last summer. However, congressional leaders had to navigate strong opposition from a growing number of conservatives who question US involvement in foreign wars and argue that Congress should prioritize addressing the surge in migration at the US-Mexico border.
This growing rift within the GOP between those conservatives skeptical of foreign aid and more traditional, “Reagan-era” Republicans who strongly support it may have significant implications for the two top Republican leaders. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who has made the Ukraine aid a top priority, indicated last month that he would step down from leadership after becoming increasingly distanced from many in his conference on this and other issues. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who brought the bills to the floor after seeking divine guidance, faces threats of an ouster after a majority of Republicans voted against them.
Despite the opposition, McConnell has made it clear that stopping Putin is important enough for him to stake his political capital. “The national security of the United States depends on the willingness of its leaders to build, sustain, and exercise hard power,” McConnell said after House passage Saturday, adding, “I make no apology for taking these linked threats seriously or for urging the Biden administration and my colleagues in Congress to do the same.”
Johnson echoed this sentiment after House passage, stating, “we did our work here, and I think history will judge it well.”
The Senate could pass the aid package, now combined back into one bill, as early as Tuesday afternoon if senators can agree on a voting schedule. If Republicans who oppose the legislation decide to protest and draw out the process, final votes would likely be pushed to Wednesday.
The legislation was initially passed by the Senate in February with a sweeping 70-29 vote and could garner even more votes this time around after the House added in the loan provisions. The idea for these loans originated with former President Donald Trump, who had previously opposed the aid. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime GOP hawk who voted against the package in February because it wasn’t paired with legislation to stem migration at the border, praised Johnson after the vote and indicated he will support it this time.
“The idea that the United States will be safer if we pull the plug on our friends and allies overseas is wrong,” he said on X.
The revised House package also included several Republican priorities that were acceptable to Democrats in order to get the bill passed. These include proposals that allow the US to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to aid in the rebuilding of Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl; and potentially ban TikTok in the US if the owner, ByteDance Ltd., doesn’t divest. This bill has garnered bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
Opponents in the Senate, similar to those in the House, are likely to include some left-wing senators who oppose aiding Israel in light of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bombardment of Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians. Vermont Sens. Bernie Sanders, an independent, and Peter Welch, a Democrat, both voted against the package in February.
“This bill provides Netanyahu with $10 billion more in unrestricted military aid for his horrific war against the Palestinian people,” Sanders said on X just before that vote. “That is unconscionable.”
With inputs from AP.
