The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Saturday approved a package of $95 billion in aid bills to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, after months of disagreements and back-and-forths between the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican opponents.
The unusual four-bill package also includes US military aid to Israel, aid to Taiwan and other US allies in the Asia-Pacific region, and a measure dealing with sanctions and measures against the Chinese social media app TikTok and the possible transfer of seized of Russian assets to Ukraine.
The bill imposing the new restrictions on TikTok was the first of four to be passed on Saturday.
“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 urges both houses of Congress to vote and quickly send this supplemental funding package to the President’s office,” he noted.
“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.
“This is the best possible outcome we can come up with under these circumstances to take care of these really important obligations,” he added.
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 he said that the survival of Ukraine is important to the USA.
Source: KYPE
