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The US House of Representatives is about to vote this
weekend on tens of billions of dollars in military aid from the US to Israel
and Ukraine, after months of waiting.
Nonetheless, there are strong opponents of both bills in Congress, and their
chances of passing have depended on a shaky bipartisan consensus to get past
significant procedural and legal barriers.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has stated that, despite the possibility of
losing his job, he is committed to putting the issue to a vote.
Kiev, which has warned of an urgent need for new backing from its friends as
Russia makes steady progress on the battlefield, will be closely monitoring the
vote in Ukraine.
The Senate might adopt the measure
this weekend, and the House will vote on final passage on Saturday. Signing it
into law is President Joe Biden's promise.
How do the aid bills work?
In his plan for foreign aid, Mr. Johnson gives $60.8 billion (£49 billion) to
Ukraine, $26.4 billion to Israel, and $8.1 billion to the Indo-Pacific area,
which includes Taiwan. There's a chance that some will pass and others won't
because the House of Representatives will vote on each item separately.
A fourth piece of legislation, which the Speaker is also putting to a vote,
calls for the Chinese business ByteDance to give up control of the social media
platform TikTok, permits the sale of Russian assets that have been placed under
lockdown, and imposes fresh penalties on Iran, Russia, and
All of the bills that pass will be
merged into one measure, which must then be passed by the Senate as a whole
before it can be signed into law by the president.
To get their support for the aid package, Mr. Johnson has also pledged to
propose an immigration reform plan with elements that conservative Republicans
approve.
However, given that it would need the backing of two thirds of the House, it
appears unlikely that the border bill will pass, according to the Washington
Post.
What is the reason for the delay?
According to opinion polls, more and more Republicans are against providing any
additional aid to Ukraine. Some liberals oppose providing Israel with military
assistance.
With only a small majority in the
house, Mr. Johnson faces pressure from a few conservatives who want him out if
he supports more help to Ukraine. So far, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul
Gosar of Arizona are the other two supporters of the endeavor spearheaded by
Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The Speaker has not taken on his right-wing critics head-on up until now. He
changed his mind on Wednesday, stating that his intention was to "do the
right thing and let the chips fall where they may".
Meanwhile, Democrats on the left who disagree with Israel's handling of the
Gaza War have declared that they will not stand by while the US continues to
violate human rights.
Mr. Johnson hopes that by permitting
separate votes on aid to Israel and Ukraine, individual lawmakers will be able
to reject certain components without jeopardizing the entire project.What's at stake?
Officials from the Biden administration have cautioned that the situation in
Ukraine is grave. As the Russian army gains ground, the country's military is
running low on supplies and morale.
CIA Director William Burns stated during a speech in Texas on Thursday that
"there is a very real risk that the Ukrainians could lose on the
battlefield by the end of 2024, or at least put [Russian President Vladimir]
Putin in a position where he could essentially dictate the terms of a political
settlement."
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys
Shmyhal warned that his country will collapse without American assistance,
saying it required fresh backing "yesterday, not tomorrow, not today"
in a Wednesday interview with the BBC.
The military in Israel is in a very different condition from the military in
Ukraine. However, Mr. Biden stated that the US needed to resupply its advanced
air defenses, which were put to the test to the utmost extent by the Iranian
missile and drone assault last weekend.
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