2024-04-25 07:19:51
The Senate of the US Congress approved aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with a convincing majority, reported Reuters and BTA.
The legislation will be sent to US President Joe Biden for his signature.
The $95 billion aid package was supported by 79 senators and 18 voted against.
The aid was approved by the House of Representatives on Saturday. The package provides funds for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and US partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
The largest of the four bills is the aid bill for Ukraine. It provides $60.84 billion in aid to Kiev to help Ukrainian forces continue their fight against Russia.
With the acceptance of this latest aid to Ukraine, the total amount that Washington has allocated to Kiev so far has risen to $170 billion. It is the first aid package for Ukraine approved by Congress since the Republican Party took control of the House of Representatives in January 2023.
The Israel bill provides $26.38 billion in aid to the Jewish state.
The Indo-Pacific bill calls for $8.12 billion to be used “to counter Communist China and to ensure serious deterrence in the region.” Two billion of that $8.12 billion is earmarked as foreign military aid to Taiwan and other US allies in the region.
The fourth bill in the package combines several national security initiatives, including: giving ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the social media app TikTok, up to a year to divest itself of its American assets or have its app blocked in USA; possibility of transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine; extending sanctions against Iran and its oil industry.