The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives said that he will try to get Congress to pass a bill to assist Israel this week. The picture shows U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson speaking at an event at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on April 10, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
[The Epoch Times, April 20, 2024](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Li Yan) The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a $95 billion bill to provide security assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan on Saturday (April 20). The USD legislation is scheduled for a vote and is expected to pass.
More than two months have passed since the Democratic-majority Senate passed a similar measure, and U.S. leaders from Democratic President Joe Biden to Senate Republican Mitch McConnell have been urging House Speaker Mike Mike Johnson put it up for a vote.
Faced with outspoken opposition from some hardliners in his party, Johnson vetoed the foreign aid package passed by the Senate in February this year. He has since worked hard to push a more conservative version of his pledge in the House.
His proposed bill attempts to thread the needle by retaining much of the Senate proposal, which garnered critical Democratic support, while adding a host of Republican national security priorities aimed at assuaging conservative voices. Those provisions from Republicans were folded into their own package, which includes new sanctions on Iran; efforts to reduce the impact of the aid package on deficit spending; and a ban or divestment of ByteDance-owned TikTok amid concerns about ByteDance’s ties to China Communist Party connections.
The House of Representatives voted by a bipartisan majority of 316 to 94 on Friday to bring the bill to a vote, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer telling senators that if the bill passes the House as scheduled, They will be ready to work overtime on the weekends.
“This is not perfect legislation, and we wouldn’t have legislation like this if Republicans were in charge of the House, Senate and White House,” Johnson told reporters on Friday. “This is the best product we can get under the circumstances that delivers. These are really important obligations.”
Three bills in the foreign aid package would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan, to help deter Chinese aggression in the region.
The fourth bill, among other House Republican priorities, includes provisions to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, as well as sanctions on Hamas and Iran and forcing Chinese company ByteDance to sell its social media platform TikTok or else The platform will face a ban in the United States. The bill would give ByteDance up to a year to divest TikTok, longer than the six-month period in a previously passed House bill.
Some hard-line Republicans strongly oppose further aid to Ukraine, but Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (Trump), who has huge influence in the party, expressed support for Johnson on April 12 and in a social media post on Thursday Said Ukraine’s survival is important to the United States.
The three House aid bills total about $95 billion, the same amount as the Senate’s February bill. The bill provides $60.84 billion to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, with $10 billion in economic aid to Ukraine in the form of repayable loans. The fourth bill is not part of the Senate package.
The aid bill also provides $26 billion for Israel, including $9.1 billion for humanitarian needs, and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific region amid China’s growing expansion.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to begin debate on the bill at 9 a.m., with voting beginning at 1 p.m.
Editor in charge: Lin Yan
Tags: #U.S House Representatives votes billion aid bill Saturday Aid Plan Speaker Johnson
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