The US Senate early Tuesday approved
a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
after months of difficult negotiations and amid growing
political divisions in the Republican Party
over the United States' role abroad.
The vote came after
a small group of Republicans
who opposed the $60 billion for Ukraine took the floor all night, using the final hours of the debate to argue that the United States
should focus on its own problems
before sending money abroad.
Democratic Senator Richard Durbin speaks to the media at the start of a late-night session in the Senate.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP
However,
22 Republicans voted with nearly all Democrats to approve the plan by 70 to 29.
Supporters of the plan said abandoning Ukraine could embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and threaten national security around the world. the planet.
“With this bill, the Senate declares that American leadership will not falter, will not falter, will not fail,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who worked closely with Republican leader Mitch McConnell on the text.
Good news for Ukraine
The approval of the package in the Senate is good news for Ukraine
in the face of a critical shortage on the battlefield.
However, the initiative faced
an uncertain future in the House of Representatives
, where hardline Republicans
aligned with former President Donald Trump
—the favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination and critical of support for Ukraine—oppose the project.
Spokesman Mike Johnson added to doubts about the proposal in a statement Monday night in which he made clear that it
could be weeks or months
before Congress sends the legislation to President Joe Biden's desk, if that happens. .
Still, the vote is a victory for leaders of both parties in the Senate.
McConnell has made Ukraine his top priority in recent months, and has held firm in the face of considerable pressure from his own caucus.
In a direct message to his critics in a speech on Sunday, McConnell said “the eyes of the world” were on the Senate.
“Will we give those who want to hurt us more reason to doubt our resolve, or will we recommit to American force?” McConnell asked.
The dollars provided by the measure would be used to purchase American-made defense equipment, such as ammunition and anti-aircraft systems that authorities say are urgently needed in the face of Russian bombing of Ukraine.
It also includes $8 billion for the government in kyiv and other forms of assistance.
“For us in Ukraine, continued US assistance helps us save human lives from Russian terror,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on social media.
“It assumes that life will continue in our cities and triumph over war.”
Additionally, the package would provide $14 billion for Israel's war with Hamas, $8 billion for Taiwan and partners in the Indo-Pacific to confront China, and $9.2 billion for humanitarian aid for Gaza.
Two Democrats, Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Peter Welch of Vermont, as well as independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, voted against it.
Progressive lawmakers have opposed sending offensive weapons to Israel.
“My conscience does not allow me to support sending billions of additional taxpayer dollars to Prime Minister Netanyahu's military campaign in Gaza,” Welch said.
“It is a campaign that has killed and injured a shocking number of civilians.
“It has created a huge humanitarian crisis.”
The approval of the text came after five months of rocky negotiations on a broad law that would have linked foreign aid to a reform of border and asylum policies.
Republicans demanded that trade, saying the spike in immigration to the United States needed to be addressed along with the security of allies.
However, the bipartisan agreement on border security fell apart just days after its presentation, a dizzying turn of events that left negotiators deeply frustrated.
Republicans declared the law insufficient and blocked it in the Senate.
After the failure of the border law, the two leaders abandoned the section on the border and promoted a package limited to foreign aid, as the Democrats intended from the beginning.
Although the smaller foreign aid bill ended up gaining enough Republican support to move forward, several Republican senators who had previously expressed support for Ukraine voted against it.
The episode highlighted the fractures in the party, which have been left on the table at Trump's insistence, and a handful of lawmakers have openly called for McConnell's resignation.
With information from the Associated Press