“The passage of this bill will send a powerful message about the strength of American leadership at a critical time,” the White House said.
The critical aid package $60.8 billion for Ukraine to counter the invasion by Russia has been approved by the US House of Representatives after months of deadlock.
In voting, 210 Democrats and 101 Republicans favored aid to Kiev, in order to confront Russia.
On the contrary, 112 Republicans voted against the aid package.
Democrats and Republicans came together after months of deadlock to vote on aid that would boost Ukraine’s victory in its war with Russia.
US President Joe Biden first requested the funding in October as Ukraine’s military supplies began to dwindle.
More than two months have passed since the Senate — where Democrats passed a similar bill — and President Biden and even top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring the bill to the floor.
Some hard-line Republicans had voiced strong opposition to further aid to Ukraine, with some arguing that the US could not afford it given its growing national debt of $34 trillion.
The response of the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who wrote on Platform X, was immediate: “The people of Ukraine are sincerely grateful to the US Congress for the positive passage of the bill on the military aid package for our country. It is vital of importance to Ukraine, which has been fending off brutal Russian aggression for 10 years”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude for the passage by the US House of Representatives of a bill to help his country in its war against Russia.
“I am grateful to the US House of Representatives, both parties, and personally to Speaker (Ret. of the House) Mike Johnson for the decision to stay on the right side of history,” Zelensky wrote in X.
Zelensky stressed that the bill, which will be passed by the US Senate, “will prevent the expansion of the war, save thousands and thousands of lives and help both of our nations become stronger.”
What’s in the help package?
The unusual four-bill package also includes giving US military aid to Israel, giving aid to Taiwan and other US allies in the Asia-Pacific region, and a measure that includes sanctions and measures against the Chinese social media app TikTok and the possible transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine.
The bill imposing the new restrictions on TikTok was the first of four to be passed today.
“People are watching what Congress is doing,” the White House said in a statement Friday. “The passage of this bill will send a powerful message about the strength of American leadership at a pivotal time. The administration is urging both houses of Congress to vote and quickly send this supplemental funding package to the president’s office.”
“It’s not perfect legislation, it’s not the legislation we would write if Republicans had control outside of the House, the Senate and the White House,” Johnson told reporters yesterday. “This is the best possible outcome we can come up with under these circumstances to take care of these really important obligations.”
“Ukraine’s survival is important to the US”
Some hard-line Republicans had voiced strong opposition to further aid to Ukraine, with some arguing that the US could not afford it given its growing national debt of $34 trillion. However, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump – a huge influence in the Republican party – on April 12 expressed his support for Johnson and in a post on Thursday on social media said that the survival of Ukraine is important to the US.
