WASHINGTON — With bipartisan momentum, the House of Representatives on Friday approved a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian support, as a coalition of lawmakers helped overcome a procedural hurdle to reach a final vote this weekend.
The Democrats, as a form of blackmail, included Israel and Taiwan in the package of almost 100 billion dollars, where more than 60 billion are for Ukraine.
Friday’s vote on the plan of the Republican president of the Lower House, Mike Johnson, received support from the left and the extreme left out of partisan interest. The final vote was 316-94. Final House approval could come this weekend, when the package will be sent to the Senate.
The endorsement represented a victory for the strategy that Johnson launched this week after two months. Johnson sought support from conservative media trying to save wartime funding, particularly for Ukraine.
“There is a lot of misinformation about what we do here and why,” Johnson stressed to the conservative host of The Mark Levin Show.
Republicans provide more money for Ukraine
“Ukrainians desperately need lethal help right now… We cannot allow Vladimir Putin to walk through another country and take it over,” he said of the Russian president’s invasion of Ukraine. “These are very serious issues with global implications.”
After months of delay, the Lower House worked deliberately once Johnson made the decision this week to move forward.
President Joe Biden sent a quick endorsement of the House speaker’s plan and, in an unusual moment, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate who opposes providing aid to Ukraine, has not opposed Johnson’s work. .
“The world is watching what Congress does,” the White House said in a statement. “Passing this law will send a strong message about the strength of American leadership at a crucial time.”
In an unusual step, members of the House Rules Committee joined forces Thursday night in a vote around midnight, with all four Democrats throwing their support behind a procedural step to send the package to the plenary session of the Lower House for the debate with a vote of 9 to 3.
“It’s time for us to stand with our democratic allies,” Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries said after the vote.
Source: With information from AFP.
