Late on Saturday, in an unscheduled legislative session following seven months without military aid for Ukraine from the US, the House of Representatives passed an aid package of $61 billion, that will now proceed to the Senate on Tuesday with President Joe Biden promising to sign the new bill into law.
After the US Senate had passed a previous bill in February, the Republican Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), at the behest of his party’s presumed presidential nominee for the November election, Donald Trump, and still under threat of removal by hardline right-wing members, refused to bring the upper house’s legislation to the floor for a vote.
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However, after apparent reconsideration and with an entirely new bill which may in part be in the form of a loan, the Representatives voted to provide the aid 311 to 112, with votes against coming mostly from Trump supporters among the Republican lawmakers.
After the House vote, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he was grateful “for the decision that keeps history on the right track.” He said on X, formerly Twitter that the House action “will keep the war from expanding, save thousands and thousands of lives, and help both of our nations to become stronger.”
The bill will now move to the Senate, which voted in favor of the previous bill. The Democratic party-controlled Senate leadership has promised a quick resolution to Ukraine’s aid crisis.
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Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) said the Senate would take up a vote as early as Tuesday on what he called “long last approved desperately needed funding for Ukraine,” along with aid for Israel and US allies in the Indo-Pacific region. The four national security bills total $95 billion in aid.
“Our allies across the world have been waiting for this moment, and I assure them the Senate is on the path to pass the same bill soon,” Schumer said.
Assuming the bill is passed without amendment, it will head to the Oval Office for Biden’s promised signature.
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