The Senate on Tuesday was moving toward approving a $95.3 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that has been stalled for months.
The legislation, a version of which passed the Senate in February with bipartisan support, scaled a critical procedural hurdle earlier Tuesday by a vote of 80 to 19, reflecting widespread backing in both parties.
In order to steer around opposition from right-wing Republicans in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, used a convoluted plan to pass it over the weekend. He broke the package into three pieces for each of the countries — allowing different coalitions to back each one — and added a fourth bill that includes a new round of sanctions on Iran and a measure to require the sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner or ban it in the United States. After passage, all four were folded together into one bill and sent to the Senate.
Final approval by the Senate, in a vote expected as early as Tuesday night, would send it to President Biden for his signature.
Here is what the foreign aid package contains:
$60.8 billion for Ukraine
Military funding for Ukraine makes up the largest piece of the package, totaling $60.8 billion. A sizable amount is set aside to “replenish American defense stockpiles” and it grants billions for the purchase of U.S. defense systems, which Ukrainian officials have said for months are badly needed.
The bill closely mirrors the original Senate package, but the House added a requirement for the Biden administration to send more American-made missiles known as long-range ATACMS to Kyiv. The United States previously supplied Ukraine with a cluster-munition version of the missiles, after President Biden overcame his longstanding reluctance to providing the weapons and permitted the Pentagon to deliver them covertly.
