4/24/24 - Senate Passes Foreign Aid Bill

The U.S. Seante passed an aid package that includes funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

WASHINGTON – Congress has passed a long-awaited $95 billion foreign aid bill. 

The Senate on Tuesday approved the package — which will funnel $60 billion to support Ukraine, $17 billion for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and elsewhere, and $8 billion for allies in the Indo-Pacific — with a bipartisan 79-18 vote.

It also includes legislation that would force TikTok's Chinese parent company to divest from the social media app or face a ban of TikTok in the United States. 

Unlike in the House, where lawmakers voted for each of the provisions independently, senators had to cast a single vote for or against all of the provisions combined.

Tuesday's vote concludes a lengthy debate across both chambers of Congress.  A number of Republicans in both chambers voted against aid to Ukraine and argued that the U.S. has already done enough to help them and that taxpayer funds would be better spent on domestic priorities or paying down the estimated $1.5 trillion budget deficit.  

Proponents of the foreign aid measure framed it as an investment that would keep the country out of a war — that a victory in Ukraine would prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to attack European allies that the U.S. is sworn to defend.

On Tuesday, President Biden called this "critical legislation" that is "urgently needed" and said he would sign it into law.