The US Senate passed a nearly 61 billion USD aid bill to Ukraine, banning TikTok

Ban social network TikTok

According to Reuters news agency, on the evening of April 23 local time (morning April 24 Vietnam time), the US Senate voted to pass four defense bills with an overwhelming vote of 79 votes in favor and 18 votes against.

The four bills above include: an aid budget package for Ukraine worth nearly 61 billion USD, an aid budget package for Israel and humanitarian work for people in conflict areas around the world worth 26 billion USD, $8.12 billion budget to “cope with China in the Atlantic-Pacific region”, including aid to Taiwan.

The fourth bill consolidates many issues, including a ban on the social network TikTok, a number of moves related to the transfer of Russian assets confiscated in the US and new sanctions on Iran.

The above four bills were just passed by the US House of Representatives on April 21, after many months of delay by this agency.

Contrary to the House of Representatives – where the Republican Party has a majority and tends to oppose too much foreign aid, the Senate, dominated by the Democratic Party, really wants to pass the above budget packages. Therefore, their adoption is carried out quickly by this agency.

According to the process, the above bill needs to be signed by President Joe Biden to become law.

Mr. Biden previously pledged to do this as soon as the document was on his desk.

Therefore, the completion of the ratification process for the aid budget packages will be carried out on the morning of April 24 (Washington DC time), officially ending many months of debate in Washington.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer shared after the Senate session: “This is a historic turning point. Perhaps, Western democracy has just faced the greatest threat since the Cold War.”

The bill is vital to Ukraine

The recently passed bill regulates the budget that the US Government can use to provide military aid to Ukraine.

This budget has been depleted for many months, leading to Washington’s aid to Kiev continuously being in a state of trickle for a long time.

The administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly asserted that this puts the Kiev army in a position of lacking ammunition, leading to poor results on the battlefield recently.

With this barrier removed, President Biden’s administration can immediately provide new batches of aid to Eastern European allies.

Therefore, the approval of the aid budget is seen as a “lifesaver” for Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.

A few hours before the Senate session, two US officials said Washington was preparing the first military aid package for Ukraine from the budget that was about to be passed.

This aid package is worth 1 billion USD, including combat vehicles, missiles for the Stinger air defense system, ammunition for rocket artillery systems, artillery shells…

However, with the current situation of US politics, it is likely that this will be the last aid budget package approved before the country conducts elections for president, the House of Representatives and one-third of the seats in the United States. Senate in November.

If the Democratic Party wins big in all three of the above elections, aid budget packages for Ukraine as well as other countries will be easier to pass. On the contrary, if the Republican Party prevails, the situation of the aid budget being “suspended” for many months could completely reoccur.