On February 13, the US Senate passed a bill authorizing new aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, as well as other spending, totaling $95.34 billion, even though the bill is unlikely to pass the US House of Representatives.
Reuters reported that the vote in the US Senate was 70 in favor and 29 against, exceeding the minimum 60 votes needed to pass the bill. Of those, 22 Republican senators, along with most Democratic senators, supported the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: "It has certainly been many years, perhaps decades, since the Senate passed a bill that has had a profound impact not only on our national security, not only on the security of our allies, but also on the security of Western democracy."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
Both houses of the U.S. Congress must approve the bill before President Joe Biden can sign it into law. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, has criticized the bill for lacking provisions that conservative politicians want to include to stop the flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.
President Biden has been urging Congress to quickly provide new aid to Ukraine and U.S. partners in the Indo- Pacific for months. Following Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the outbreak of fighting in Gaza, Biden also requested funding for Israel, a Washington ally, in addition to humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.
Ukrainian officials also warned of arms shortages at a time when Russia is stepping up new attacks.
The bill includes $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, $14 billion in aid for Israel in its fight against Hamas, and $4.83 billion to support partners in the Indo- Pacific , including Taiwan. The bill also provides $9.15 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine, and other conflict zones globally.
A day before the bill was passed by the US Senate, billionaire Elon Musk told Republican politicians that Russian President Vladimir Putin "would never" lose the war in Ukraine, and also opposed the US continuing to provide aid to Kyiv.
American billionaire Elon Musk
"This spending doesn't help Ukraine. Prolonging the conflict doesn't help Ukraine," Musk said during a discussion with several Republican senators on X Spaces, a platform owned by the social media network X (formerly Twitter), according to Bloomberg. He also said he hoped Americans would reach out to the senators they elected to express their views on the bill to aid Ukraine.
Previously, the billionaire had expressed similar views on X, despite his company Starlink providing satellite internet service to Ukraine since the Russia-Ukraine conflict erupted in February 2022. Musk doubted Ukraine's ability to win the war and mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's repeated calls for aid from the U.S. and other Western nations. This drew criticism from Kyiv and Democratic members of the U.S. Congress.
At the event on February 12th, Musk, the world's richest man, also suggested that President Putin is under pressure to pursue the war in Ukraine to the end. "If he backs down, he will be assassinated," the billionaire said.
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