US president Joe Biden on Tuesday pressed the House of Representatives to move swiftly on a $95 billion (€89 billion) aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed by the Senate.
“If we do not stand against tyrants who seek to conquer or carve up their neighbours’ territory, the consequences for America’s national security will be significant,” Mr Biden said in a statement. “Our allies and adversaries alike will take note. It is time for the House to take action and send this bipartisan legislation to my desk immediately so that I can sign it into law.”
The Senate on Tuesday approved the measure in a 70-29 vote that comfortably exceeded the chamber’s 60-vote threshold for passage and sent the legislation on to the House. Twenty-two Republicans joined most Democrats to support the bill.
“It’s certainly been years, perhaps decades, since the Senate has passed a bill that so greatly impacts not just our national security, not just the security of our allies, but the security of Western democracy,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said shortly after the predawn vote.
Mr Schumer told a news conference later on Tuesday he was confident the bill would pass the House with support from both parties if Republican speaker Mike Johnson would allow a vote. “I call on Speaker Johnson to rise to the occasion, to do the right thing: Bring this Bill to the floor quickly,” Mr Schumer said.
It was not clear that Mr Johnson would do so, having issued a statement before the Senate vote criticising the measure for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the US-Mexico border.
Mr Biden has been pushing Congress to pass more aid for Ukraine for months, but has faced opposition from Republican hardliners, particularly in the House.
The House has not passed major assistance for Ukraine since Republicans took control of the chamber in January 2023.
The Senate vote occurred before sunrise, after eight hardline Republican opponents of Ukraine aid held a marathon of speeches that dominated the chamber floor from Monday afternoon into the early hours on Tuesday.
The package also includes funds for Israel, humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza and funds to help Taiwan and other US partners in the Indo-Pacific to stand up against China.
Both houses of Congress must approve the legislation before Mr Biden can sign it into law.
Senate Republicans last week blocked a bill that would have coupled aid for Ukraine and other allies with the most sweeping changes to border policy in decades, after Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, loudly criticised that deal.
Backers of the Ukraine aid package have been warily watching Mr Trump’s reaction. The former president criticised it on social media, saying it should take the form of a loan, and also worried US allies over the weekend by suggesting he could encourage aggression against Nato members whom he believes don’t pay enough for Nato.
“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,” Mr Johnson said in his statement issued late on Monday.
“America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo,” said Mr Johnson, who has suggested in the past that the House could split the legislation into separate bills.
Senator John Thune, the chamber’s No 2 Republican, said it was not clear what Mr Johnson would do. “The House, I assume, is going to move on something. Obviously, they’re going to address Israel,” Mr Thune said.
Hardline Republicans predicted the Senate legislation would be dead on arrival in the House. “The bill before us today ... will never pass in the House, will never become law,” Republican senator Rick Scott of Florida said in an early morning floor speech. – Reuters