OAN’s James Meyers
8:22 AM – Wednesday, April 24, 2024
The Senate on Tuesday easily passed a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel as well as the defense of Taiwan, sending the bill to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed immediately.
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In a 79-18 vote by the upper chamber, the bill passed giving $60.8 billion to Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian relief in Gaza, in addition to $8 billion for security in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific.
Biden commented on the approved aid package saying he will sign it “as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week.”
“The need is urgent: for Ukraine, facing unrelenting bombardment from Russia; for Israel, which just faced unprecedented attacks from Iran; for refugees and those impacted by conflicts and natural disasters around the world, including in Gaza, Sudan, and Haiti; and for our partners seeking security and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” he added, thanking Senate leaders for their support.
“This critical legislation will make our nation and world more secure as we support our friends who are defending themselves against terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”
The newly approved aid package comes after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a similar bill to the House over two months ago, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other Republicans rejected the aid package calling for funding of border security at the Southern border.
“Today, the Senate sends a unified message to the entire world: America will always defend democracy in its hour of need,” Schumer declared on the Senate floor ahead of final passage.
“We tell our allies, ‘We will stand with you’; we tell our adversaries, ‘Don’t mess with us’; we tell the world, ‘We will do everything to defend democracy and our way of life,” he said, adding that “the relentless work of six long months has paid off.”
“History will record that even as allies and partners may have worried about the depth of our resolve, even as Moscow, Beijing and Tehran grew more convinced that our influence had run its course and even as loud voices here at home insisted on abandoning the responsibilities of leadership, America stepped up and the Senate held firm,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) affirmed.
Additionally, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who has been a huge supporter of Ukraine aid, ripped other GOP lawmakers like Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio.) for saying that the U.S. assistance would not change anything meaningful for Ukraine troops on the ground.
“Ukraine’s challenge is not the G.O.P.; it’s math,” Vance wrote in a New York Times op-ed last week. “Ukraine needs more soldiers than it can field, even with draconian conscription policies. And it needs more materiel than the United States can provide.”
“That is garbage,” Graham (R-SC) responded in a Fox News interview on Sunday. “I just got back from being there two weeks ago. They changed their conscription laws. They have all the manpower they need. They need the weapons.”
Meanwhile, 15 Republicans and three Democrats voted against the foreign aid package.
With the new bill being brought to the floor by Speaker Johnson, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has threatened to oust Johnson and has been joined by Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.).
“Three of our primary adversaries, Russia, Iran, and China are working together … and they’re a global threat to our prosperity and our security,” the speaker told reporters after the vote cleared. “Their advance threatens the free world, and it demands American leadership.”
However, Johnson was able to go against members of his own party, allowing all four bills to advance to the floor and pass with no issues.
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