On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives advanced a $95 billion legislative package to provide assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan, which also includes a bill to strip or ban TikTok.
The procedural vote on Friday passed by a margin of 316 to 94, with more Democrats (165) supporting the comprehensive plan than Republicans (151). This was an unusual move that laid the foundation for the final passage of the package. The House planned to vote on four separate bills in the package on Saturday afternoon.
President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have been pushing for the House vote. Earlier, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson faced opposition within his party and delayed the voting plan.
The three bills in the foreign aid package will provide assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan, aimed at helping deter Chinese aggression in the region.
The fourth bill addresses other priorities of the House Republicans, such as transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, imposing sanctions on Hamas and Iran, and compelling the Chinese company ByteDance to divest its social media platform TikTok, facing a ban in the U.S. if not divested. The bill allows a one-year period for ByteDance to divest TikTok, longer than the six-month deadline in previous House bills.
The three aid bills in the House total approximately $95 billion, matching the amount in a February Senate bill. Adjustments include $10 billion in economic aid to Ukraine in the form of repayable loans and $9.1 billion in humanitarian aid demanded by Democrats. The fourth bill is not part of the Senate’s comprehensive plan.
House Speaker Johnson stated on Newsmax that the vote on the legislation would take place “earlier on Saturday.”
According to the rules, if the bills pass in the House, they will be combined into an amendment bill and then submitted to the Senate.
Schumer told senators on Friday to be prepared to come back to work over the weekend if necessary.
Some conservative lawmakers oppose providing aid to Ukraine, while some Democrats also oppose certain provisions in the bill, particularly regarding aid to Israel, and demand more conditions for the assistance.
On Thursday evening, three Republicans on the House Rules Committee voted against the comprehensive plan. On Friday morning, 55 conservatives voted against it again, highlighting tensions within the Republican party. The House Freedom Caucus released an official statement on Thursday urging all Republicans to oppose the comprehensive plan.
The unusual Democratic support is noteworthy, as minority party members rarely assist majority party leaders in passing procedural rules.