On Tuesday, the Senate approved a $95 billion emergency foreign aid package, ending a lengthy argument over $61 billion for the war in Ukraine that had caused division within the Republican Party.
The vote to pass the measure was 79 to 18, and it now awaits President Biden's signature.
The package also contains $15 billion in military aid for Israel and $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and other war-torn areas. This became a point of contention among conservative Republicans who argued it didn’t have enough safeguards to prevent aid from reaching Hamas.
It allocates $8 billion in security assistance to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific.
It also includes provisions to compel the Chinese owner of TikTok to divest from the popular app, which is used by more than 140 million Americans, or face a ban within the United States.
However, the main focus of the package is $47.7 billion intended for the Defense Department to provide training, equipment, weapons, logistics support, and supplies to aid Ukraine’s military. It also includes $13.4 billion to replenish U.S. equipment sent to Ukraine and $20.5 billion for U.S. Armed Forces support in Europe.
Additionally, it includes $9.5 billion in economic aid to Ukraine in the form of a forgivable loan, a concept that former President Trump initiated when the Senate passed a previous version of the $95 billion assistance package in February.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who worked for months to secure Ukraine aid, celebrated the vote as a historic moment.
“Today the Senate sends a unified message to the entire world. America will always defend democracy in its hour of need. We tell our allies we will stand with you. We tell our adversaries don’t mess with us,” Schumer proclaimed on the Senate floor.
Following the vote, Schumer commended McConnell for standing up to strong opposition to Ukraine funding within the Republican Party and enduring criticism from conservative critics in his conference.
“I would like to give particular shout out to Leader McConnell. Against a lot of negative comments in his own party and within his own caucus, he knew the right thing to do and stuck with it,” he told reporters after the vote.
Schumer mentioned that he left a message for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday evening, letting him know: “OK, we got it done. Now win the fight.”
McConnell had earlier taken to the floor to acknowledge the prosperity the United States has enjoyed as a global leader but reminded colleagues that leadership comes with responsibilities to allies who help maintain peace and order throughout much of the world.
He also criticized colleagues who prolonged the debate over aiding Ukraine based on what he called the “sheer fiction” that supporting the war is not a vital national security interest.
“So much of the hesitation and shortsightedness that has delayed this moment is premised on sheer fiction,” he said, cautioning that failure to support Ukraine would only encourage “unchecked terrorist violence” against American troops in the Middle East and Israel.
He said that allies in Asia understand that China will gain from Russian progress and that Beijing is waiting for us to hesitate.
And he cautioned that the postponement of arming Ukraine had weakened the war effort.
“Let's be clear: the delay in giving Ukraine the weapons to protect itself has strained the chances of defeating Russian aggression. Hesitation and indecision have added to the difficulties we face,” he said.
Thirty-one Republican senators voted Tuesday afternoon to move the foreign aid package to a final vote, eight more than voted for a similar package in February after Trump voiced his opposition to it and demanded it be structured as a loan.
McConnell praised the vote as a sign that his side is prevailing in the debate with isolationists in the party about the importance of supporting European and Asian allies and deterring Russia, China and Iran.
“I think we’ve turned the corner on the isolationist movement. I’ve noticed how uncomfortable the proponents of that are when you call them isolationists. I think we’ve made some progress,” he told reporters.
The bill still faced staunch opposition led by conservatives, including Sens. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).
Vance on the Senate floor ticked through the arguments he made in a recent New York Times op-ed that the military aid for Ukraine won’t turn the tide of the war and that the United States doesn’t have the industrial capability to supply it with the weapons it needs to win.
And he cautioned of unintended consequences of U.S. involvement that cannot be foreseen and potentially tying the hands of the next president to achieve a diplomatic end to the war.
Schumer faced divisions within his own conference over military aid to Israel.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) voted against the package.
Sanders said that while he supported military aid for Ukraine and humanitarian assistance for Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine he opposed what he called “$8.9 billion in unfettered military aid” to allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wage “his unprecedented assault against the Palestinian people.”
Welch said he voted against the bill because it would enable Israel to continue its offensive in Gaza.
“Sending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government the munitions it is using to destroy Gaza is wrong and inconsistent with our foreign policy goals,” he said.
The path to getting the foreign aid to Biden’s desk has been long and politically complicated.
Biden submitted his foreign aid request to Congress in October, and the Senate passed its version of the $95 billion package on Feb. 13 after an effort to add to it a bipartisan border security deal negotiated with the White House failed. Trump played a key role in knocking off the border security component, telling allies that he wanted to deny Biden a victory on a major issue in the 2024 election.
Then the bill stalled for weeks, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) kept his focus on passing long-stalled government funding and dealing with a restive right flank resolutely opposed to Ukraine aid.
Johnson gave colleagues little hint how he would handle the Ukraine funding issue until he met with GOP senators at their annual retreat in mid-March at the Library of Congress, when he told them he would structure some of the assistance as a loan and add language authorizing the seizure of Russian assets to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The Speaker, however, waited to bring the legislation to the floor because he was at risk of conservative critics trying to remove him from the top leadership role.
Johnson strengthened his right side by visiting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he talked with the former president for an hour.
Trump gave Johnson a big boost by praising him for doing a “very good job” and declaring “I stand with the Speaker.”
Johnson tried to resolve the difficult divisions within his conference over Ukraine funding, as well as Democratic disagreements over providing military aid to Israel, by dividing the foreign aid package into four separate bills on the House floor.
Even then, Democrats had to come together to support Johnson and help him overcome conservative opposition in the Rules Committee and on a procedural vote on the House floor. Usually such procedural votes on House rules are strictly partisan affairs.
In the end, all four bills passed by wide margins.
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) on Tuesday praised Johnson for his innovative handling of the bill.
“I think they did a really nice job of structuring it over there to get a big vote coming out of the House and adding some provisions that are going to be additive to the vote count here over in the Senate,” he said of the additions of the TikTok ban and language structuring Ukraine economic assistance as a forgivable loan.
“His engagement I think with the former president probably was helpful because there was a fairly … strong position prior in opposition,” he said of Johnson’s outreach to Trump.
U.S. officials told Reuters that they are already working on a $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine that will be authorized by the foreign aid package. It will include air defense missiles, artillery rockets, 155mm artillery shells and anti-tank weapons.
Updated at 10:52 p.m.
