Assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is paired with legislation to impose fresh rounds of sanctions on Iran and Russia and a measure that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the United States.
The Senate on Tuesday approved a $95.3 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that had been stalled in Congress for months.
The legislation, a version of which passed the Senate in February with bipartisan support, passed 79 to 18, reflecting widespread backing in both parties.
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 sends it to President Biden, who said he would sign it on Wednesday.
Here is what the foreign aid package contains:
$60.8 billion for Ukraine
Military funding for Ukraine makes up the largest part 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.
Another provision included by the House directs the president to seek repayment of $10 billion in economic assistance, a concept supported by former President Donald J. Trump, who has pushed for any aid to Kyiv to be in the form of a loan. But the bill also allows the president to forgive those loans starting in 2026.
