Thank you, Senators! 🙏 Now it’s up to the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress to approve this vital foreign aid bill so that it can be signed into law by @potus. 🇺🇦👏💙💛🙏🇺🇸
#Repost @weareukraine.info with @use.repost . . . In a 70-29 final vote that surpassed the 60-vote threshold, the U.S. Senate voted to pass the long-contested $95.34 billion foreign aid bill in the early hours of Feb. 13, 2024, @cnn reported. The legislation will now be sent from the Democrat-led Senate to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The foreign aid package includes $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine, as well as $14.1 billion allocated for Israel, $9.2 billion in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Ukraine among others, and $4.8 billion to support regional partners in the Indo-Pacific region, such as Taiwan. According to Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova, the procedural vote and speeches took over six hours. “We thank the leaders of the Senate and all who have extended support to Ukraine in this critical time,”Markarova wrote on Facebook.
The Senate passed the legislation after Republicans blocked a broader bill last week that combined foreign aid with a bipartisan border deal. U.S. President Joe Biden has been urging lawmakers over the course of several months to provide new aid to Ukraine amidst calls from Ukrainian officials for reinvigorated military support for the country as it defends itself from Russian aggression while experiencing weapons shortages. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer celebrated the decision: “It’s been years, perhaps decades, since the Senate passed a bill that so greatly impacts not just our national security, not just the security of our allies, but the security of western democracy,” he said.
Both houses of Congress must approve the legislation before Biden can sign it into law, with a “showdown” expected in the House as early as Feb. 14, 2024, as Speaker Mike Johnson has issued vocal criticism of the bill.
#WeAreUkraine #StandWithUkraine 17h