WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Senate has passed to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
The bill passed the Senate on an overwhelming 79-18 vote late Tuesday after the House had Saturday. Biden, who worked with congressional leaders to win support, said in a statement immediately after passage that he will sign it Wednesday and , which has been against Russia.
鈥淭onight, a bipartisan majority in the Senate joined the House to answer history鈥檚 call at this critical inflection point,鈥� Biden said.
The legislation would also send $26 billion in wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza, and $8 billion to counter Chinese threats in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. U.S. officials said about $1 billion of the aid could be , with the bulk following in coming weeks.
In an interview with The Associated Press shortly before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that if Congress hadn鈥檛 passed the aid, 鈥淎merica would have paid a price economically, politically, militarily.”
鈥淰ery few things we have done have risen to this level of historic importance,鈥� he said.
On the Senate floor, Schumer said the Senate was sending a message to U.S. allies: 鈥淲e will stand with you.鈥�
Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made passage of the legislation a top priority, agreeing to tie the Ukraine and Israel aid to help ensure passage and arguing there could be dire consequences for the United States and many of its global allies if Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression is left unchecked. They worked with House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, to overcome seemingly intractable Republican opposition to the Ukraine aid, in particular 鈥� eventually winning large majorities in both chambers.
McConnell said in a separate interview before the vote that it “is one of the biggest days in the time that I鈥檝e been here.鈥�
鈥淎t least on this episode, I think we turned the tables on the isolationists,” McConnell said.
In the end, 31 Republicans voted for the aid package 鈥� nine more than when the Senate passed a similar version in February, and a majority of the Senate GOP conference. The House in a series of four votes on Saturday, with the Ukraine portion passing 311-112.
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. Ukrainian soldiers have struggled as Russia has seized the momentum on the battlefield and gained significant territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday the U.S. will badly needed air defense weaponry as soon as the legislation is passed.
鈥淭he 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,鈥� Zelenskyy said in a post on X on Monday.
In an effort to gain more votes, Republicans in the House majority also added a bill to the foreign aid package that in the U.S. if its Chinese owners do not sell their stake within a year. That legislation had wide bipartisan support in both chambers.
The TikTok bill was one of several tweaks Johnson made to the package the as he tried to move the bill through the House despite significant opposition within his conference. Other additions include a stipulation that $9 billion of the economic assistance to Ukraine is in the form of 鈥渇orgivable loans”; provisions that allow the U.S. to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine; and bills to impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl.
Those changes appears to have brought some of the nine additional Senate Republicans on board, bringing support to more than half of McConnell鈥檚 conference.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime hawk who voted against the foreign aid package in February because it wasn鈥檛 paired with legislation to stem migration at the border, was one of the Republicans who switched their votes. 鈥淚f we don’t help Ukraine now, this war will spread, and Americans who are not involved will be involved,鈥� Graham said.
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.
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican who is a close ally to Donald Trump, said that despite the strong showing of support for funding Ukraine鈥檚 defense, opposition is growing among Republicans.
鈥淭he United States is spread too thin,” Vance said, “And that argument, I think, is winning the American people and it鈥檚 slowly winning the Senate, but it鈥檚 not going to happen overnight.鈥�
The growing fault line in the GOP between those conservatives who are skeptical of the aid and the more traditional 鈥淩eagan Republicans” who strongly support it may prove to be career-defining for the two top Republican leaders.
McConnell, , said last month that he would after becoming increasingly distanced from many in his conference on the Ukraine aid and other issues. Johnson, who said he put the bills on the floor after praying for guidance, after a majority of Republicans voted against the aid to Ukraine.
Johnson said after House passage that 鈥渨e did our work here, and I think history will judge it well.”
Opponents in the Senate, like the House, included some left-wing senators who are opposed to aiding Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has bombarded Gaza and killed thousands of civilians. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., voted against the package.
鈥淲e must end our complicity in this terrible war,鈥� Sanders said.
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