Washington, DC: A months-long legislative standoff in Washington over military aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan has ended with US President Joe Biden’s signing of a $94 billion foreign budget package into law.
After the package’s equally lopsided passage in the Republican-controlled House, the Senate cleared the proposal handily late on Tuesday night, 79–18, defying months of resistance from an isolationist majority of hardline conservatives opposed to aiding Ukraine.
“It’s going to make America safer. It’s going to make the world safer,” Biden said, in remarks delivered from the White House, shortly after signing the bill.
“It was a difficult path,” he continued. “It should have been easier and it should have gotten there sooner. But in the end, we did what America always does. We rose to the moment, came together, and we got it done.”
Despite mounting calls to limit US aid to Israel due to abuses in Gaza, where the Israeli force has murdered over 34,000 Palestinians, the deal will give Israel an additional $17 billion in aid.
The US president presented the fresh support as an attempt to shield Israel from Iranian threats.
US officials have stated that Ukraine suffered military setbacks as a result of the prolonged hold-up in requesting the foreign aid package, which the White House initially submitted to Congress in October. Biden pledged to “move fast,” stating that the US would start sending weapons and supplies to Ukraine in a few hours.
Declaring that the Ukrainian army is a “fighting force with the will and the skill to win,” Biden rejected the idea that the country is stuck in an unwinnable struggle that is draining US resources.
“If [Vladimir] Putin triumphs in Ukraine, the next move of Russian forces could very well be a direct attack on a Nato ally,” he said, describing what would happen if article 5 of the alliance’s charter, which requires the collective defense of a member in the event of an outside attack.
“We’d have no choice but to come to their aid, just like our Nato allies came to our aid after the September 11 attacks.”
By a vote of 79 to 18, the US Senate adopted the bill on Tuesday. The proposal was likewise approved by the House of Representatives a few days prior.
US Senator Bernie Sanders denounced the extra foreign aid bill’s adoption late on Tuesday, referring to it as a “dark day” for the US Senate. He went on to say that Washington shouldn’t support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a right-winger, in his war on Gaza.
The devastation in Gaza encompasses the destruction of the housing stock, infrastructure, healthcare, and educational systems. Sanders issued a statement saying, “Enough is enough.”
More than two million people live in Gaza, where Israel has been enforcing a siege that severely restricts the entry of food and other necessities, pushing the region toward starvation.
In a statement released on April 4, Biden chastised Israel and hinted that if the Israeli government did not let additional aid and take action to safeguard civilians in the area, Washington would reevaluate its support for the attack in Gaza.
Israel has continued its actions and stepped up its attacks on Gaza ever since. This week, mass graves next to Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital—the site of a previous Israeli army operation—turned up more than 300 victims.