Members in the US House of Representatives have quickly passed legislation to provide to Ukraine and Israel and bolster Taiwan while also threatening a ban on TikTok if it fails to divest from Beijing.
The bills, passed in a rare Saturday session, were approved by overwhelming bipartisan votes, though they leave the future of House Speaker Mike Johnson in doubt as he seeks to fend off angry far-right detractors.
US President Joe Biden welcomed the votes, saying in a statement they would "deliver critical support to Israel and Ukraine; provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, and other locations... and bolster security and stability in the Indo-Pacific".
He praised politicians who came together across party lines "to answer history's call".
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky also welcomed the long-delayed aid package, saying the military and economic assistance would "save thousands and thousands of lives".
I am grateful to the United States House of Representatives, both parties, and personally Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 20, 2024
Democracy and freedom will always have global significance and will never fail as long as America helps to…
Not surprisingly, Russia took the opposite view.
"It will further enrich the United States of America and ruin Ukraine even more, by killing even more Ukrainians because of the Kyiv regime," said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, state news agency TASS reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the approval showed strong support for Israel and "defends Western civilization".
In a post on X, he said: "The US Congress just overwhelmingly passed a much appreciated aid bill that demonstrates strong bipartisan support for Israel and defends Western civilization. Thank you friends, thank you America!"
The US Senate could take the bill up as early as Tuesday, the chamber's Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said. Senate approval would then send the measure to Mr Biden for his signature.
The bills are the product of months of acrimonious negotiations, pressure from US allies and repeated pleas for assistance from Mr Zelensky.
The US has been the chief military backer of Ukraine in its war against Russia, but Congress has not approved large-scale funding for its ally for nearly a year and a half, mainly because of the cross-aisle bickering.
Push for major weapons package
Mr Biden and Democratic politicians in Congress have been pushing for a major new weapons package for Ukraine for months.
But Republicans, influenced by the party's presidential candidate Donald Trump, have been reluctant to provide funding to Kyiv for the drawn-out conflict.
The financing of the war has become a point of contention ahead of a presidential election in November that is expected to pit Mr Biden against Mr Trump once again.
Mr Johnson, after months of hesitation, finally threw his support behind the $61bn (€57bn) package for Ukraine.
"To put it bluntly, I'd rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys," Mr Johnson said.
The handful of far-right Republicans who had threatened to engineer Johnson's ouster if he pressed the Ukraine vote appeared to back away today, at least temporarily.
"I'm actually going to let my colleagues go home and hear from their constituents" about their anger over the vote, congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said on CNN.
The Ukraine bill also allows Biden to confiscate and sell Russian assets and provide the money to Ukraine to finance reconstruction, a move that has been embraced by other G7 nations.
US TikTok ban?
At the request of Mr Biden, some $8bn (€7.5bn) under one bill would be used to counter China through investment in submarine infrastructure and boosting competition with Beijing on projects built in developing countries.
Several billion dollars would be devoted to weapons for Taiwan, the self-ruled island that is claimed by China.
The first of the bills passed today would force TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a nationwide ban in the US, where it has around 170 million users.
Western officials have voiced alarm over the popularity of TikTok with young people, alleging that it is subservient to Beijing and a conduit to spread propaganda -- claims denied by the company.
TitTok sharply denounced the bill, saying it "would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the US economy annually," a TikTok spokesman said.
A total of $13bn (€12bn) in military assistance has been allocated for America's historic ally Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
The money will essentially be used to reinforce Israel's Iron Dome air defences.
More than $9bn (€8.4bn) will be earmarked to address "the dire need for humanitarian assistance for Gaza as well as other vulnerable populations around the world," the legislation says.
Officials of NATO, the European Union and Germany welcomed passage of the Ukraine bill in the House.
