The US House of Representatives is set to hold a crucial vote on Saturday, April 20, on a major aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and a possible ban on TikTok.
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Voting on the $95 billion foreign aid and weapons bills will begin at 1:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), and embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, will need the votes. Democrats to get it approved.
The bills are the result of months of acrimonious negotiations, pressure from U.S. allies and repeated pleas for help from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The bills cost the last Republican House speaker his job, and Ukraine funding has been at the center of partisan disputes.
The United States has been Ukraine's main military supporter in its war against Russia, but Congress has not approved large-scale funding for its ally in almost a year and a half, mainly due to political disputes.
President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers in Congress have been pushing for a major new weapons package for Ukraine for months.
But Republicans, influenced by their party's presidential candidate, Donald Trump, are reluctant to provide funds to kyiv for the protracted conflict.
War funding has become a point of contention ahead of a presidential election in November that is expected to once again pit Biden against Trump.
Johnson, after months of hesitation, finally threw his support behind a $61 billion package for Ukraine that includes economic aid and weapons, saying:
“To put it bluntly, I'd rather send bullets to Ukraine than American guys”
The bill also allows Biden to seize and sell Russian assets and provide the money to Ukraine to finance reconstruction, a measure that has been adopted by other G7 nations.
The world is watching
A total of $13 billion in military aid has been allocated to historic US ally Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
The money will essentially go toward strengthening Israel's “Iron Dome” air defenses.
More than $9 billion will address “the dire need for humanitarian assistance for Gaza, as well as other vulnerable populations around the world,” the legislation says.
At Biden's request, some $8 billion would go to countering China through investments in underwater infrastructure and boosting competition with Beijing in projects built in developing countries.
Several billion dollars would go toward weapons for Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by China.
There is also a provision that would force TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent ByteDance or face a national ban in the United States, where it has about 170 million users.
Western officials have expressed alarm over TikTok's popularity among young people, alleging that it serves Beijing and is a conduit for spreading propaganda, claims denied by the company.
In a statement Friday, the White House said it “strongly supports” the legislation.
“The world is watching what Congress does,” he said, adding that Biden would sign the bills as soon as they were approved by both houses of Congress.
This could happen within days, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised that the Democratic-majority Senate will quickly adopt the measures once they are approved by the House of Representatives.
Passage of the bills in the House of Representatives is expected to be enthusiastically welcomed by US allies, but it could cost the Republican House speaker his job.
A handful of far-right isolationist Republican lawmakers have warned they could impeach Johnson for supporting the bills.
This article was adapted from its original in English.
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