The U.S. Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved roughly $40 billion in aid for Ukraine that President Joe Biden has been fighting, which would send the bill to the White House for the Democrats to sign into law.
The situation comes as Washington continues to keep military assistance flowing to the European nation nearly three months after the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion. Lawmakers in the Senate voted 86-11 in favor of the emergency aid that will fund military, economic, and humanitarian efforts.
$40 Billion Ukraine Aid Package
The package is by far the largest U.S. aid effort that will go towards Ukraine to date, and all 11 votes against it were from Republican lawmakers. The powerful bipartisan support underscored the desire from lawmakers, most of which are members of the GOP, as well as Democrats, to support Ukraine's fight without sending military troops.
In a statement, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the large package would be able to meet the large needs of the Ukrainian people as they fight to survive. He also urged support for the emergency supplemental spending bill before the vote for the aid package, as per U.S. News.
Biden is expected to quickly sign the bill into law as he and Ukrainian leaders have pressed hard for its swift enactment. They warned that they would run out of American aid by Thursday if Congress failed to act on the situation.
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In a statement, the U.S. president said that he applauded Congress for sending a clear bipartisan message to the world that the country's people stood together with the citizens of Ukraine. Shortly after the vote, Biden announced that he would send another package of artillery, radars, and other equipment to Ukraine.
As per the New York Times, the momentum of support behind the bill showed how the searing images of suffering in Ukraine and fears of Russia's aggression spreading beyond the European nation had overcome resistance from both parties. Schumer noted that Americans could not afford to stick their heads in the sand while Russian President Vladimir Putin continued his vicious belligerence.
Strong Bipartisan Support
The situation comes after the House passed the spending package last week, where it was met with a flurry of lobbying led by archconservative media figures and activists. This helped drive 57 Republican lawmakers to oppose the package.
But determined to project strong bipartisan support for Kyiv, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell worked for days leading up to the recent vote to tamp down on the anti-interventionist strain inside his own party. He argued that the U.S. needed to help a young democracy that was standing between Russian aggression and the Western world.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy called the Ukrainian aid package "extremely critical." He added that he did not know why some of the GOP's members held it up because it impacted the war effort every day that it was delayed.
Sen. Rand Paul, a fiscal conservative, had failed to reach a deal with Schumer over his demands regarding the aid package. He wanted language in the bill to create a special inspector general position to oversee all Ukraine spending. He also suggested that John F. Sopko, who was an American watchdog for Afghanistan reconstruction over the past decade, take the helm, NBC News reported.
