US Senate Passes $95 Billion Ukraine, Israel Aid Package
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The U.S. Senate passed a $95 billion national security package early Tuesday to aid Israel, Ukraine, and other U.S. allies early Tuesday after a months-long debate.
However, it was unclear whether the House would support the package, which includes more than $60 billion for wartorn Ukraine.
In addition, $14 billion has been reserved for Israel’s war against Hamas and $10 billion for humanitarian aid in conflict zones, including in Gaza, where many are suffering.
While the bill passed 70 to 29, after 22 Republicans joined Democrats in approving the aid, House Speaker Mike Johnson preemptively rejected the legislation on Monday night.
The Republican said that the package’s failure to address U.S. border security amid a massive influx of migrants makes it a nonstarter in the House. “In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson warned. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”
Johnson and other House leaders helped torpedo an earlier version of the legislation that included sweeping border security measures and other reforms.
The delays added to angry reactions in the European Union, which just approved a package of 50 billion euros ($54 billion) for Ukraine.
POLAND WORRIED
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on social media network X: “Dear Republican Senators of America. Ronald Reagan, who helped millions of us to win back our freedom and independence, must be turning in his grave today. Shame on you.”
He invoked the former Republican president and his efforts in the 1980s to support Poland’s struggle to shake off Moscow’s dominance. Separately, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters that “over the past two years, the EU has provided support to Ukraine, which can be estimated at more than 88 billion euros ($94 billion), of which 28 billion euros ($30 billion) is military support.”
He stressed that “In addition, the decision of the European Council… to approve a proposal for support worth 50 billion euros is important.” Ukraine has been suffering setbacks on the battlefield in a war that has left hundreds of thousands of people dead or injured, and Kyiv hopes additional U.S. and EU support will help its war efforts.
However, critics, including former U.S. President Donald J. Trump and his most vocal ally in the EU, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, argue that only peace talks will end Europe’s deadliest conflict since the Second World War.
Yet, back on the Senate floor, Democrats appeared in a Hallelujah-mood as they celebrated the controversial package.
“These past few months have been a great test for the U.S. Senate to see if we could escape the centrifugal pull of partisanship and summon the will to defend Western democracy when it mattered most,” Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said, referring to Ukraine after the bill passed in the Senate. “Today, the Senate has resoundingly passed the test.”
But without a clear majority in the House, it remained unclear when and if the president can sign the package and the checks that Kyiv, as well as Israel and Gaza, have been waiting for.
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