{"id":4271152,"date":"2024-04-24T08:35:33","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T15:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152///wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152//www.sbsun.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152//?p=4271152&preview=true&preview_id=4271152"},"modified":"2024-04-24T12:47:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T19:47:34","slug":"biden-signs-a-95-billion-war-aid-measure-with-assistance-for-ukraine-israel-and-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152///wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152//www.sbsun.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152//2024/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152//04/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152//24/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152//biden-signs-a-95-billion-war-aid-measure-with-assistance-for-ukraine-israel-and-taiwan/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152//","title":{"rendered":"Biden signs $95 billion war aid measure with assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"

By AAMER MADHANI and SEUNG MIN KIM/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

WASHINGTON /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2014 President Joe Biden signed into law on Wednesday a $95 billion war aid measure that includes assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and that also has a provision that would force social media site TikTok to be sold or be banned in the U.S./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

The announcement marks an end to long, painful battle with Republicans in Congress over urgently needed assistance for Ukraine./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cWe rose to the moment. we came together. and we got it done,/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d Biden said at White House event to announce the signing. /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cNow we need to move fast, and we are./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

UPPER CHAMBER: Senate moves ahead with massive aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

But significant damage has been done to the Biden administration/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s effort to help Ukraine repel Russia/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s brutal invasion during the funding impasse that dates back to August, when the Democratic president made his first emergency spending request for Ukraine aid. Even with a burst of new weapons and ammunition, it is unlikely Ukraine will immediately recover after months of setbacks./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/"President
President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152//Evan Vucci)/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Biden also signed an initial aid package of military assistance and said shipment would begin in the /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cnext few hours/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2014 the first tranche from about $61 billion allocated for Ukraine, according to U.S. officials. It is expected to include air defense capabilities, artillery rounds, armored vehicles and other weapons to shore up Ukrainian forces who have seen morale sink as Russian President Vladimir Putin has racked up win after win./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

THE HOUSE: Ukraine, Israel aid advances in rare House vote as Democrats help Republicans push it forward/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

But longer term, it remains uncertain if Ukraine /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2014 after months of losses in Eastern Ukraine and sustaining massive damage to its infrastructure /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2014 can make enough progress to sustain American political support before burning through the latest influx of money./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cIt/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s not going in the Ukrainians/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019 favor in the Donbas, certainly not elsewhere in the country,/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d said White House national security spokesman John Kirby, referring to the eastern industrial heartland where Ukraine has suffered setbacks. /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cMr. Putin thinks he can play for time. So we/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019ve got to try to make up some of that time./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

HOW THEY GOT TO ‘YES’: To pass Ukraine aid, /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2018Reagan Republican/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019 leaders in Congress navigated a party transformed by Trump/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Tucked into the measure is a provision that gives TikTok/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, nine months to sell it or face a nationwide prohibition in the United States. The president can grant a one-time extension of 90 days, bringing the timeline to sell to one year, if he certifies that there/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s a path to divestiture and /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201csignificant progress/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d toward executing it./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

CAN THEY DO IT? US banning TikTok? Your key questions answered/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

The administration and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have called the social media site a growing national security concern./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

TikTok said will wage a legal challenge against what it called an /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cunconstitutional/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d effort by Congress../wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cWe believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail,/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d the company said in a statement. /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cThe fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Biden underscored that the bill also includes a surge of humanitarian relief for Palestinians in Gaza suffering as the Israel-Hamas war continues./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Biden said Israel must ensure the humanitarian aid for Palestinians in bill reaches Gaza /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cwithout delay./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Russia now appears focused on Kharkiv, Ukraine/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s second largest city. Russian forces have exploited air defense shortages in the city,pummeling the region/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s energy infrastructure, and looking to shape conditions for a potential summer offensive to seize the city./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

House Speaker Mike Johnson delayed a vote on the supplemental aid package for months as members of his party/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s far right wing, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, threatened to move to oust him if he allowed a vote to send more assistance to Ukraine. Those threats persist./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested his fellow Republicans/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019 holding up the funding could have a lasting impact on Ukraine/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s hopes of winning the war./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cMake no mistake: Delay in providing Ukraine the weapons to defend itself has strained the prospects of defeating Russian aggression,/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d McConnell said Tuesday. /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cDithering and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 presidential GOP nominee, has complained that European allies have not done enough for Ukraine. While he stopped short of endorsing the supplemental funding package, his tone has shifted in recent days, acknowledging that Ukraine/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s survival is important to the United States./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Indeed, many European leaders have long been nervous that a second Trump presidency would mean decreased U.S. support for Ukraine and for the NATO military alliance. The European anxiety was heightened in February when Trump in a campaign speech warned NATO allies that he /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cwould encourage/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d Russia /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cto do whatever the hell they want/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d to countries that don/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019t meet defense spending goals if he returns to the White House./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

It was a key moment in the debate over Ukraine spending. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg quickly called out Trump for putting /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cAmerican and European soldiers at increased risk./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d Biden days later called Trump/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s comments /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cdangerous/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d and /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cun-American/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d and accused Trump of playing into Putin/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s hands./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

But in reality, the White House maneuvering to win additional funding for Ukraine started months earlier./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Biden, the day after returning from a whirlwind trip to Tel Aviv following Hamas militants/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019 stunning Oct. 7 attack on Israel, used a rare prime time address to make his pitch for the supplemental funding./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

At the time, the House was in chaos because the Republican majority had been unable to select a speaker to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who had been ousted more than two weeks earlier. McCarthy/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s reckoning with the GOP/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s far right came after he agreed earlier in the year to allow federal spending levels that many in his right flank disagreed with and wanted undone./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Far-right Republicans have also adamantly opposed sending more money for Ukraine, with the war appearing to have no end in sight. Biden in August requested more than $20 billion to keep aid flowing into Ukraine, but the money was stripped out of a must-pass spending bill even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington to make a personal plea for continued U.S. backing./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

By late October, Republicans finally settled on Johnson, a low-profile Louisiana Republican whose thinking on Ukraine was opaque, to serve as the next speaker. Biden during his congratulatory call with Johnson urged him to quickly pass Ukraine aid and began a months-long, largely behind-the-scenes effort to bring the matter to a vote./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

In private conversations with Johnson, Biden and White House officials leaned into the stakes for Europe if Ukraine were to fall to Russia. Five days after Johnson was formally elected speaker, national security adviser Jake Sullivan outlined to him the administration/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s strategy on Ukraine and assured him that accountability measures were in place in Ukraine to track where the aid was going /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2014 an effort to address a common complaint from conservatives./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

On explicit orders from Biden himself, White House officials also avoided directly attacking Johnson over the stalled aid /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2014 a directive the president repeatedly instilled in his senior staff./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

For his part, Johnson came off to White House officials as direct and an honest actor throughout the negotiations, according to a senior administration official. Biden had success finding common ground with Republicans earlier in his term to win the passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure deal, legislation to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry, and an expansion of federal health care services for veterans exposed to toxic smoke from burn pits. And he knew there was plenty of Republican support for further Ukraine funding./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

At frustrating moments during the negotiations, Biden urged his aides to /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cjust keep talking, keep working,/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d according to the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal discussions./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

So they did. In a daily meeting convened by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, the president/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s top aides /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2014 seated around a big oval table in Zients/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019 office /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2014 would brainstorm possible ways to better make the case about Ukraine/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s dire situation in the absence of aid./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, and legislative affairs director Shuwanza Goff were in regular contact with Johnson. Goff and Johnson/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s senior staff also spoke frequently as a deal came into focus./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

The White House also sought to accommodate Johnson and his various asks. For instance, administration officials at the speaker/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s request briefed Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2014 two conservatives who were persistent antagonists of Johnson./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

All the while, senior Biden officials frequently updated McConnell as well as key Republican committee leaders, including Reps. Michael McCaul and Mike Turner./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Biden/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s instincts to resist pressuring Johnson proved correct./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201cJoe Biden has a very good sense of when to heavily intervene and when to try to shape things,/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u201d Schumer said./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

In public, the administration deployed a strategy of downgrading intelligence that demonstrated Russia/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s efforts to tighten its ties with U.S. adversaries China, North Korea and Iran to fortify Moscow/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/u2019s defense industrial complex and get around U.S. and European sanctions./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n

For example, U.S. officials this month laid out intelligence findings that showed China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry. Earlier, the White House publicized intelligence that Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and has acquired attack drones from Iran./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271152/n