The US Lower House approves aid of 95 billion to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

The United States House of Representatives approved this Saturday a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, after the bill remained stalled for months due to the blockage of a group of radical Republican legislators.

Each item was voted on independently and the 61 billion for Ukraine was approved by 311 bipartisan votes in favor compared to 112 against, in a session in which Democrats cheered and waved Ukrainian flags.

The allocation of 26.4 billion for Israel was approved by 366 votes in favor to 58 against and includes funds for anti-missile defense systems as well as for the acquisition of advanced defense weapons systems. 9.2 billion dollars are for humanitarian assistance.

In another vote, funds for the security of the Indo-Pacific (Taiwan, among others) were approved with a bipartisan vote of 385-34 plus one blank vote, that of the Democratic representative of Palestinian origin Rashida Tlaib.

Among other items, there are $8.1 billion to counter China’s actions in the Indo-Pacific region or $2 billion in foreign military financing for Taiwan and other key allies.

The bill will now have to be approved in the Senate, where the Democratic Party has a slim majority.

Following the approval, President Joe Biden celebrated in a statement that lawmakers had voted to promote the country’s “national security interests” and to “send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage.”

“At this critical turning point, you came together to answer the call of history, passing urgently needed national security legislation that I have fought for for months,” he said.

The bill approved today has remained stalled in the Lower House for months due to the blockage of a group of legislators who oppose financing Ukraine, but Iran’s recent attack on Israel has given it new impetus.

However, this Saturday the plan of the President of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, to divide the approval of the project into four votes was followed.

In the fourth vote, several Republican demands have come together, including the imposition of sanctions on Iran, Russia and China, and a potential veto of TikTok.

The House approved the “21st Century Peace through Strength Act” with a bipartisan vote of 360 to 58.

Impose sanctions on ports and refineries that receive and process Iranian oil; empower the executive branch to seize and transfer Russian assets frozen in the United States to Ukraine; and giving TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance nine months to sell the social media company are some of the concepts it includes.

After approval by the House of Representatives, these items must go through the Senate, where a very similar project was already approved last February, and subsequently the bill will be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The Democratic president has been insisting since October of last year that Congress approve new financing for Ukraine and Israel.

For months, Mike Johnson has refused to put to a vote on the foreign aid requested by Biden because the hardest wing of the Republican Party opposes approving more military aid for Ukraine, a position that former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump has promoted. .

However, Iran’s attack on Israel last Saturday put pressure on Johnson to at least advance aid to Israel, the United States’ main ally in the Middle East and which enjoys great support among Republicans.