(Central News Agency reporter Zhong Youzhen, Washington, 23rd) Following the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate today passed a bill to assist Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, etc., and forced TikTok to “disconnect” from its Chinese parent company. President Biden recently stated that he will sign this $95 billion bill into law as soon as possible.
Members of the Senate took turns expressing their views on the bill. Among them, Democratic Party Ben Cardin called for the passage of this foreign aid package to “bring great hope” to Taiwan and other allies, showing that the United States is with them; Sanders, the leftist of the same party (Bernie Sanders) once again expressed his opposition to funding Israel’s “war machine” and asked lawmakers present to face up to the tragic situation in the Gaza Strip.
The final vote started around 8:20 p.m., and the Senate finally passed the 60-vote threshold with 79 votes in favor and 18 against, passing the bill, which included four bills with a total value of approximately US$95 billion (approximately NT$3.09 trillion). bill.
The bill contains an $8.1 billion “Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental bill” (Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental bill), including $2 billion in “Foreign Military Financing (FMF)” funding to Taiwan and other major allies, $1.9 billion in The U.S. dollar will be used to “backfill” the provision of defense supplies and services to Taiwan and regional partners, and $542 million will be invested in the operation of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
The so-called foreign military financing refers to the security assistance subsidy funds reserved by the United States for important partners. Qualified allies can purchase U.S. defense items, services and training through subsidies.
The bill also includes the “21st Century Peace through Strength Act”, which contains sanctions on Iran, the seizure of frozen Russian sovereign assets, and forcing the short-form video platform TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company ByteDance ( ByteDance) or face a nationwide ban in the United States.
Since the Democratic-led Senate passed a similar measure in February, everyone from Biden to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has continued to urge House Speaker Mike Johnson to submit the Senate version to a vote.
Two months later, Johnson & Johnson’s stance finally softened. After some conflicts from all parties, the House of Representatives revised and supplemented the Senate version, including including the TikTok bill and tying Ukraine’s $9 billion in economic aid to repayment conditions. It was passed on the 20th and submitted to the Senate for a vote.
It is worth noting that the Indo-Pacific Security Supplementary Bill received the highest support in the House of Representatives that day, passing with 385 votes to 34 votes, which was higher than the other three bills of 360 votes to 58 votes, 311 votes to 112 votes, and 366 votes to 58 votes. .
On the same day, Biden called on the Senate to send this bill to the White House as soon as possible so that he can sign it into law as soon as possible. “We can quickly transfer Ukrainian weapons and equipment to meet their urgent needs on the battlefield.”
This bill also affects the careers of Republican leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in March that he had drifted away from many members of his own party on foreign aid and other issues and that he would resign. Johnson and Johnson also faced a crisis within the party that forced him to vote because he angered his own “America First” far-right lawmakers by putting the aid package to a vote.
McConnell was adamant at the time that stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin was important enough for him to put his political capital on the line. Johnson said after the House of Representatives passed the bill, “We got the job done, and I believe history will judge it favorably.” (Editor: Wei Shu) 1130424
