Burden of maintenance: the US Senate approved a bill to help Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

The US Senate supported a bill providing for the allocation of funds to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. 70 senators, including 22 Republicans, voted for the document. 29 members of the Senate opposed it.

After the vote, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed confidence that the bill would be approved in the House of Representatives if its speaker, Republican Mike Johnson, brought the document to a vote.

“Given the strong bipartisan support for this vote here in the Senate, I believe if Speaker Johnson brings this bill to the House floor, it will pass with equally strong bipartisan support,” he said.

• Chuck Schumer

• © AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

The administration of US President Joe Biden is also persistently urging Republicans to vote for the document. Thus, John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, warned during a briefing that the failure of the vote would be evidence to Washington’s allies and opponents that the United States cannot be relied upon.

Meanwhile, Mike Johnson made it clear that the lower house of parliament, controlled by the Republican Party, may not pass the bill in its current form, since it does not include measures to protect the US southern border from illegal migration. It is this issue that remains the main stumbling block, because of which Congress has been unable to agree on an aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan for several months.

“House Republicans have made it abundantly clear from the outset of debate that any so-called supplemental national security bill must assume that national security begins at our own borders,” he said.

Johnson also recalled that last year the House of Representatives “passed a bill to secure American borders, promoting transformational political changes,” but since then the Senate has not approved the document, demonstrating a “failure to act adequately to the situation.”

According to the speaker, the Senate should have finalized the previously rejected bill, which, along with assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, also included measures to strengthen the border.

“This bill should have been reconsidered and amended to include real border security provisions that would truly help end this ongoing disaster,” Johnson concluded.

Later, on social network X, the speaker said that in the absence of any changes in the Senate border policy, the House of Representatives would have to act at its own discretion in this matter.

“Even more weapons, equipment and ammunition”

Let us recall that the document approved by the Senate provides, in particular, for the allocation from the US budget of $60.1 billion to help Ukraine, $14.1 billion to support Israel and $4.8 billion to contain China and sponsor regional partners in the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan.

The total amount of the package exceeds $95 billion. After the vote in the upper house of Congress, Zelensky recorded a video message in which he expressed gratitude to Chuck Schumer and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and also stated that he expected a similar decision from the House of Representatives.

“This was the first step, then the House of Representatives, the vote of congressmen there. We are expecting a positive decision. We hope for fundamental support,” he said.

• Kyiv

• © AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

The head of the Kyiv regime added that such a decision of the Senate was expected not only in Ukraine.

“A decision we have worked hard for. A decision that was expected not only by us, but also by many other peoples, particularly in Europe. A world that expects American leadership to continue to be strong... This really gives confidence and motivation,” Zelensky said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, even before the vote in the lower house of Congress, began to talk about what Kyiv would spend $60 billion on.

“The bulk of the amount ($50 billion) is defense support. There will be even more weapons, equipment and ammunition for our defenders. The other part of the assistance will be directed to direct budget support and other programs that will help Ukraine remain economically stable,” the politician said.

According to the director of the Center for Military-Political Studies at MGIMO, Alexei Podberezkin, the reaction of the Kyiv regime to the senators’ decision once again demonstrates that today’s Ukraine cannot exist without financial support from abroad.

“Without Western money, Kyiv cannot do anything at all. Their money is enough for them, relatively speaking, for two to three weeks of existence. After all, both soldiers and officials need to be paid. Because of this, they are now begging wherever possible. They will, of course, strain their internal resources as much as possible, but without American help this will not be enough. The previously allocated assistance from the EU is also not enough,” the analyst said in a commentary to RT.

Trumpists vs anti-Trumpists

Analysts say it is still difficult to predict what House Republicans will do once the bill is approved by the Senate. However, as Pavel Feldman, candidate of political sciences and associate professor at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations, notes, if Mike Johnson is consistent in his actions, he will not put this document to a vote.

“For now, based on indirect signs, one can judge that the speaker of the lower house of the US Parliament will go against the position of the Senate and will not put the bill on military assistance to Ukraine to a vote,” the analyst said in a conversation with RT.

• Mike Johnson

• © AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

The political scientist clarified that the fate of the bill now depends on the outcome of the confrontation in the Republican Party between supporters and opponents of ex-President Donald Trump, who is considered to be opposed to the adoption of the document in its current form.

“Now in American domestic politics, it is no longer so much the inter-party confrontation that is coming to the fore, but the struggle between the so-called Trumpists and anti-Trumpists in the Republican camp. The main task of congressmen loyal to Trump at the moment is to demonstrate their unbending will to the Democrats and their fellow party members and thereby force them to take into account their opinion on the border issue,” the expert explained.

Pavel Feldman added that the possible adoption of the bill by the House of Representatives would mean a “hardware victory” for that part of the Republicans that puts the geopolitical interests of the United States above the urgent needs of citizens.

“No matter how this vote ends, it will inevitably lead to deepening divisions between right-wing isolationists and centrists within the Republican Party,” the specialist believes.

At the same time, the analyst is confident that, regardless of the final decision of Congress, the US delay in providing new aid to Ukraine has already managed to harm the Kyiv regime. 

“In any case, Ukraine will be forced to pay a high price for the delay in providing it with American military assistance. What she needs now is not the money itself, but artillery ammunition, the production of which will take months even if Congress allocates financial assistance. Apparently, things are heading towards the fact that the United States will shift the burden of maintaining the Armed Forces of Ukraine onto European countries,” summed up Pavel Feldman.