Ukraine, Israel win as Biden gets bipartisan support for aid package
After lengthy negotiations, the United States Senate has passed with bipartisan support a $95 billion programme to send aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The final vote tally was 79-18, with three Democrats voting alongside 15 Republicans against the bill. The aid package brings together four distinct bills that the House of Representatives passed separately last weekend, respectively supplying almost $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, above $26 billion for Israel, over $8 billion for the Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region, and one bill relating to Tik Tok. In their current shape, the bills closely resemble an aid package that the Senate had passed earlier this year, an initiative that was ultimately shot down when House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to bring it to the floor of his chamber.
Now that it has been passed in the Senate, the legislation will move forward to the desk of President Joe Biden to sign into law, as he has said he intends to do, thus opening the door to helping Ukraine to push back against Russian aggression, to providing wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian aid to Gaza, and to countering territorial threats in the Indo-Pacific that are linked to China. The fact that the omnibus aid bills package passed with such strength in the Upper Chamber of Congress constitutes a key win for Mr. Biden, Democratic lawmakers, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who has toiled for long months to send aid to Ukraine, in the face of opposition from the far-right wing of his own party.
That opposition, which threatens to spoil the plans of the Republican Party ‘mainstream’, includes the likes of the House Freedom Caucus, comprising ultra conservative members of Congress who broadly support the agenda of former President Donald Trump. They are especially opposed to aid packages, which they consider a threat to their isolationist vision for the U.S. — to the point where Mr. Johnson had to introduce a ‘sweetener’ into the bill to win their vote, a promise to ban Tik Tok if it did not divest itself of Chinese ownership within a year.
That the far-right segment was able to exert its influence on the agenda of Congress to this extent is remarkable, given that it only has a slim majority in the House, and both the Senate and White House are in the hands of the Democrats. In any case, this sizeable aid package is likely to be the last one that is approved for Ukraine and other U.S. allies until after November, which will see the White House, the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate head to the polls. If Mr. Trump emerges victorious, the rightward slide of the Congress might gather considerable momentum, giving the MAGA movement the teeth that it needs to carry forward its agenda of institutional nihilism.
Source: The Hindu (India)