Congress clears $95bn aid package for Ukraine and Israel
A $95bn foreign aid package has been approved by the US Senate that will see military support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Joe Biden is set to sign the legislation into law on Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening, the Senate backed the measure passed by the US House of Representatives on Saturday.
It passed in a bipartisan vote of 79-18.
The package includes $61bn in military aid for Ukraine, which the Pentagon says can start being delivered to the war-torn nation “within days”.
Biden called the bill “critical legislation [that] 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”.
🗣 Most of the weapons from the new US aid package have been deployed in Germany and Poland, which will significantly speed up the delivery of military aid to Ukraine—CNN citing a source
— Madmax OSINT 🇮🇪 (@madmaxburn88) April 23, 2024
Scarce artillery shells will be among the first to be supplied#UkraineRussianWar #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/pcR9H3geBe
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: “After more than six months of hard work and many twists and turns in the road, America sends a message to the entire world: we will not turn our back on you.”
A similar aid package had passed in February but a group of conservatives who oppose new Ukraine support had prevented it from coming to a vote in the House of Representatives.
Last week, Democrats and Republicans in the lower chamber joined together to bypass this opposition.