House votes on critical aid to Ukraine, Israel and a possible TikTok ban

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives is preparing to vote Saturday on a package of bills that would authorize new U.S. aid to Israel and Ukraine, along with security aid for the Indo-Pacific region and a bill that would force TikTok's parent company to sell it or ban it in the United States. . we

The House is scheduled to vote in the afternoon on the four bills in a row, a day after a rare and unusual bipartisan coalition canvassed the votes, with more Democrats (165) than Republicans (151) voting for the “base” to move forward with the vote. . Measurements.

It is expected that the bills will be approved and then sent to the Senate for approval as soon as within the next few days. Together, they include the $95 billion aid package supported by President Joe Biden, with some changes from the version approved by the Senate two months ago.

Holding the vote represents a challenge by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Los Angeles, against an outspoken faction of conservative insurgents who oppose funding for Ukraine and have pushed him not to put it to a vote. Three of them — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, and Paul Gosar, R-Arizona. – They threatened to remove him from the position of speaker. Passing the bill could bring Greene one step closer to being forced to vote to remove him.

After months of hesitation, Johnson sided with Biden and Democrats and Republicans who believe that helping Ukraine repel Russian aggression is essential to US national security interests, citing briefings he received and warning that “Vladimir Putin will continue his march across Europe if he does not do so.” He allowed them.”

Johnson told reporters: “I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than send American boys,” noting that his son will enter the Naval Academy this year. “This is a live fire exercise for me as it is for many American families. This is not a game, this is not a joke.”

Before the vote, former President Donald Trump issued a confusing statement in which he sympathized with both the pro- and anti-Ukraine aid factions of the Republican Party without taking a clear position.

Aside from the three aid bills, the fourth measure includes a policy to force China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok within nine months — which the president can extend by a year — or face a nationwide ban. The policy, which lengthens the time frame for sale from a previous House bill, has the Senate's endorsement along with Biden's, bringing TikTok closer than ever to being banned in the United States.

If approved, the bills are expected to be bundled together and sent to the Senate, which will have to vote on the entire legislation to send it to Biden's desk for him to sign into law. It's not clear when that will happen, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are vocal supporters of the foreign aid provisions in the package.

“I hope that President Biden will soon have on his desk long-awaited funding to support our friends in Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region, and to help innocent civilians in need of humanitarian assistance in Gaza and around the world,” Schumer said. Before the House vote, they warned that Ukraine's hopes against Russia would diminish without additional US weapons to defend itself.

Late Friday, Schumer said the Senate was working to get unanimous consent to move quickly to a vote on foreign aid legislation. “We are working to reach an agreement to consider the annex,” he said on the Senate floor.

“This is the political reality: If you think the fall of Afghanistan was bad, the fall of a European capital like Kiev to Russian forces would be unimaginably worse, and if stalled US aid makes that outcome possible,” McConnell said earlier this week. “There is no solution.” “The question is when will the blame fall on us?”