Billions of dollars in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan advanced in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, heading for a final vote after the U.S. House of Representatives abruptly ended a months-long stalemate and approved the assistance last week.
The Senate voted by an overwhelming 80 to 19 in favour of advancing the package of four bills passed by the House, far more than the 60 needed to pave the way for a vote on final passage as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.
One of the bills provided $61 billion US for Ukraine; a second, $26 billion US for Israel; and a third, $8.12 billion US “to counter communist China” in the Indo-Pacific. A fourth includes a potential ban on the social media app TikTok, measures for the transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine and new sanctions on Iran.
U.S. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it into law as soon as it reaches his desk, and his administration is already preparing a $1-billion US military aid package for Ukraine, the first to be sourced from the bill, two U.S. officials told Reuters.
Ukrainian MP Oleksandra Ustinova says expected U.S. aid will help her country hold its front line against Russia, but more is still needed. Ustinova joins CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton to talk about her visit to Canada and what Ukraine is asking for.
After the procedural vote, the Senate’s Democratic and Republican leaders predicted that Congress had turned the corner in putting Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign adversaries on notice that Washington will continue supporting Ukraine and other foreign partners.
.”This is an inflection point in history. Western democracy perhaps faced its greatest threat since the end of the Cold War,” Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in the Senate.
‘Better late than never’: McConnell
The aid package could be the last approved for Ukraine until after elections in November, when the White House, House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are up for grabs.
Almost all the “no” votes — 17 of the 19 — came from Republicans, many of them close allies of former U.S. president Donald Trump, a Ukraine aid skeptic who has stressed “America First” policies as he seeks a second term in November.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said his party has tended to be isolationist when a Democrat is in the White House, but he noted that well over half the Republican conference had voted to advance the bill.
When asked about complaints that his party’s objections meant it took six months for the aid to pass, McConnell told a news conference, “I would say better late than never.”
Some of the Ukraine money — $10 billion US in economic support — comes in the form of a loan, which Trump had suggested. But the bill lets the president forgive the loan starting in 2026.
The influx of weapons should improve Kyiv’s chances of averting a major Russian breakthrough in the east, analysts said, although it would have been more helpful if the aid had come closer to when Biden requested it last year.
The legislation’s progress has been closely watched by industry, with U.S. defence firms up for major contracts to supply equipment for Ukraine and other U.S. partners.
Experts expect the supplemental spending to boost the order backlog of RTX Corp along with other major companies that receive government contracts, such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman.