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Aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan heads to Senate for final approval

The Senate is returning to Washington on Tuesday to vote on $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, taking the final steps in Congress to send the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk after months of delays and contentious internal debate over how involved the United States should be abroad.

Quick Read

  • Senate to Vote on Significant Aid Package: The U.S. Senate is set to vote on a comprehensive $95 billion aid package aimed at supporting Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The package includes $61 billion for Ukraine as it faces intensified Russian aggression, $26 billion for Israel amidst ongoing conflict in Gaza, and $8 billion to counter China’s influence in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region.
  • Inclusions and Political Strategies: In a bid to secure broader support, the package also features a provision that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the U.S. unless its Chinese owners divest. The aid proposal, largely supported by Congress since President Biden’s request last summer, has navigated through significant opposition from conservatives who prioritize domestic issues like U.S. border security.
  • Leadership and Political Stakes: Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson have faced internal party challenges due to their stances on the aid. McConnell, emphasizing the national security importance of supporting Ukraine, is stepping down from leadership, while Johnson risks ouster after facilitating the bill’s passage in the House.
  • Expected Senate Action and Opposition: The Senate may pass the aid package as early as Tuesday if agreement on vote timing is reached. However, delays could occur if opposition chooses to prolong the process. The aid package previously passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support, and additions like the loan provisions and measures to seize Russian assets may attract even broader backing this time.
  • Controversial Elements and Criticisms: The package’s support for Israel has drawn criticism from some senators, particularly in light of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza, with Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch voicing strong opposition.

The Associated Press has the story:

Aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan heads to Senate for final approval

Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP) —

The Senate is returning to Washington on Tuesday to vote on $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, taking the final steps in Congress to send the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk after months of delays and contentious internal debate over how involved the United States should be abroad.

The $61 billion for Ukraine comes as the war-torn country desperately needs new firepower and as Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up his attacks. Soldiers have struggled to hold the front lines as Russia has seized the momentum on the battlefield and forced Ukraine to cede significant territory.

FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces Col.-Gen. Oleksandr Syrski, right, look at a map during their visit to the front line city of Kupiansk, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Nov. 30, 2023. Ukraine’s commander in chief, Oleksandr Syrski, said Russia’s top military leadership ordered its soldiers to capture the town of Chasiv Yar by May 9, Russia’s Victory Day, a holiday that marks the defeat of Nazi Germany. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

Bidentold Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday the U.S. will soon send badly needed air defense weaponry. The House approved the package Saturday in a series of four votes, sending it back 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.

FILE – Activists supporting Ukraine, demonstrate outside the Capitol in Washington, April 20, 2024. The Senate is returning to Washington to vote on $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine and Israel. They are taking the final steps in Congress to send the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk after months of delays and contentious internal debate over how involved the United States should be abroad. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The legislation also would send $26 billion in wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza, and $8 billion to counter China in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. In an effort to gain more votes, Republicans in the House majority also added a bill to the package that could ban the social media app TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese owners do not sell their stake within a year. The foreign aid portion of the bill is similar to 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 assistance to Ukraine is in the form of “forgivable loans.”

President Joe Biden speaks at Prince William Forest Park on Earth Day, Monday, April 22, 2024, in Triangle, Va. Biden is announcing $7 billion in federal grants to provide residential solar projects serving low- and middle-income communities and expanding his American Climate Corps green jobs training program. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The package has had broad congressional support since Biden first requested the money last summer. But congressional leaders had to navigate strong opposition from a growing number of conservatives who question U.S. involvement in foreign wars and argue that Congress should be focused instead on the surge of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The growing fault line in the GOP between those conservatives who are skeptical of the aid and the more traditional, “Reagan-era” Republicans who strongly support it may prove to be career-defining for the two top Republican leaders. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who has made the Ukraine aid a top priority, said last month that he would step down from leadership after becoming increasingly distanced from many in his conference on the issue and others. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who put the bills on the floor after praying for guidance, faces threats of an ouster after a majority of Republicans voted against them.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

McConnell has made 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 said after House passage that “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 soon as Tuesday afternoon if senators are able to agree on the timing for a vote. If Republicans who oppose the legislation decide to protest and draw out the process, final votes would likely be Wednesday.

The legislation was first passed by the Senate in February on a sweeping 70-29 vote, and it could get even more votes this time after the House added in the loan provisions. The idea for a loan started with former President Donald Trump, who had been opposed to the aid.

FILE – Senate Judiciary Oversight Committee Ranking Member Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during a hearing to examine Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and related surveillance authorities, Tuesday, June 13, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. A special grand jury that aided a Georgia election subversion probe that ultimately ended up indicting Donald Trump and 18 others had recommended charging many more people, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, two former senators from Georgia and Michael Flynn, according to a report released Friday, Sept. 8. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime GOP hawk who voted against it in February because it wasn’t paired with legislation to stem migration at the border, praised Johnson after the vote and indicated he will vote for 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 to get the bill passed. Those include proposals that allow the U.S. to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl; and could eventually ban TikTok in the U.S. if the owner, ByteDance Ltd., doesn’t sell. That bill has wide bipartisan support in the House and Senate.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks prior to President Joe Biden speaking about lowering health care costs in the Indian Treaty Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Opponents in the Senate, like the House, are likely to include some left-wing senators who are opposed to aiding Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has bombarded Gaza and killed 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 $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.”

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