The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives is ready to vote on Saturday and is anticipated to pass a $95 billion package of security aid bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, over bitter objections from party hardliners.
More than two months have passed for the reason that Democratic-majority Senate passed an analogous measure, and US leaders from Democratic President Joe Biden to the Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, have called on embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson to vote on it.
Johnson selected this week to disregard threats of removal from hardliners in his fractious 218-213 majority and push ahead with the measure that will provide about $60.84 billion for Ukraine because it struggles to fend off a two-year Russian invasion.
The unusual package of 4 bills also includes funding for Israel, security assistance for Taiwan and allies within the Indo-Pacific, and a measure that features sanctions, the specter of a ban on Chinese social media app TikTok and the possible transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine.
“The world is watching what Congress does,” the White House said in an announcement Friday. “Passage of this legislation would be a strong signal of the strength of American leadership at a crucial moment. The Administration urges both chambers of Congress to quickly send this additional funding package to the President’s desk.”
A bipartisan 316-94 majority within the House voted Friday to bring the bill to a vote, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told senators they must be prepared to work on the weekend if he likes expected to be adopted by the House of Representatives.
“It's not perfect legislation, it's not the legislation that we would be writing if Republicans were running both the House, the Senate and the White House,” Johnson told reporters on Friday. “This is the best possible product we can get under these circumstances to meet these really important commitments.”
Some Republican hardliners have strongly opposed further aid to Ukraine. Some argued the U.S. could ailing afford it given its ballooning $34 trillion national debt. They have repeatedly threatened to oust Johnson, who became speaker in October after his predecessor Kevin McCarthy was ousted by party hardliners.
Rep. Bob Good, chairman of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, told reporters Friday that the bills represent a “slide into the abyss of a larger financial crisis and an America Last policy” that Biden and Schumer in addition to (the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives Hakeem) Reflect Jeffries. and don’t reflect the American people.
But Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who holds great influence within the party, expressed support for Johnson on April 12 and said in a social media post on Thursday that Ukraine's survival was vital to the United States
The bills allocate $60.84 billion to handle the conflict in Ukraine, including $23 billion to replenish U.S. weapons, supplies and facilities; $26 billion for Israel, including $9.1 billion for humanitarian purposes and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific.
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