In a late Tuesday vote, the Democrat-controlled Senate approved a $95 billion package that aims to provide aid to U.S. allies, including Ukraine and Israel, and paves the way to a possible TikTok ban.
Senators voted 79-18 to pass the legislation, with most Democrats and Republicans supporting it. It needed 60 votes to prevail. The package now heads to President Joe Biden, who said he would sign the legislation.
“Tonight, America sends a message to the entire world: We will not turn our back on you,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a post to X after the vote.
The GOP-led House passed the foreign aid package over the weekend in a series of separate votes that followed Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel earlier this month.
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Included in the package is $61 billion to boost Ukraine in its war against Russia and give assistance to regional partners, $26 billion for Israel as it fights Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and humanitarian aid, and $8 billion for Indo-Pacific allies like Taiwan.
There are other elements, such as sanctions for fentanyl trafficking and other matters, as well as compensating Ukraine with seized Russian assets. U.S. agencies get funds to fulfill the purposes of the bill, including the Defense and State Departments.
The legislation also has a section that gives Chinese-based ByteDance up to a year to divest from TikTok or else the app gets banned in the United States. TikTok is expected to sue, a move that would likely drag out the process.
A final Senate vote took place on Tuesday hours after the chamber easily met the three-fifths threshold to limit debate over the protest of hardline Republicans and leftist members including Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
“The Uniparty wants to rubber stamp this $95 billion betrayal,” Lee said in a post to X. “They even banned Senators from amending this disastrous bill to secure the border, or prevent tax dollars from going to Hamas!”
Lee and Sanders opposed the bill in the final vote, too, along with 14 other Republicans and two Democrats. Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) did not vote.
Republican Senators Paul, Scott (SC), & Tuberville missed the final passage vote on the $95.3B Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan aid package.
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) April 24, 2024
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) was among the Republicans who voted in favor of the foreign aid package. He spoke out in support of the legislation earlier in the day.
“Today, the Senate sits for a test on behalf of the entire nation. It’s a test of America’s resolve, our readiness, and our willingness to lead. And the stakes of failure are abundantly clear. We must not fail it,” McConnell said on X.
Efforts on Capitol Hill to pass foreign aid was stymied for several months after the Biden administration made a national security supplemental request last fall.
In mid-February, the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill that would allocate money for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan by a 70-29 vote with support of most Democrats and some Republicans.
A bipartisan immigration deal had been tacked onto that legislation, but it was dropped after a group of Republicans and leftist senators blocked the larger bill from advancing.
The House refused to take up the Senate-passed legislation as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other Republicans demanded that legislation to help alleviate the border crisis be part of the equation.
Over the weekend, when the House passed its foreign aid package in piecemeal fashion, a sufficient number of lawmakers voted to reject a border security bill that received consideration as part of the process.
Another TikTok bill with a shorter divestiture window, which the House passed in March amid national security concerns about the app, did not get a vote in the Senate.
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