US Congress | Highly anticipated vote on Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

(Washington) Is this the end of the soap opera? The American House of Representatives votes Saturday on a major aid plan for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, supported by elected officials from both sides.

Elected officials have begun to vote on this gigantic envelope of 95 billion dollars, requested for months by President Joe Biden.

They first adopted at the beginning of the afternoon a text included in this bill and issuing an ultimatum to TikTok, which provides for the banning of the application in the United States unless the social network cuts its links with its parent company ByteDance, and more broadly with China.

Then they voted for a text to stand up to China militarily by investing in submarines, and to help Taiwan.

If all measures are adopted, they will be quickly reviewed by the Senate. The upper house could consider the texts as early as Tuesday, indicated the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer.

These measures are the result of months of extremely acrimonious negotiations, the comings and goings of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington and pressure from allies around the world.

They even cost a Republican leader his job.

Standoff between Biden and Trump

At the heart of all the tensions: the financing of the war in Ukraine.

The United States is Kyiv’s main military backer, but Congress has not passed a major package for its ally in nearly a year and a half — mainly due to partisan bickering.

Democratic President Joe Biden and his party in Congress are very supportive of new aid for Ukraine, at war with Russia.

But the Republicans, led by Donald Trump, are increasingly reluctant to finance a conflict which is getting bogged down.

In the middle of an election year, the issue has transformed into a remote duel between the two presidential candidates.

After months of procrastination, the Republican leader of the House, Mike Johnson, ended up supporting a package of 61 billion dollars for Ukraine.

“To put it bluntly: I would rather send ammunition to Ukraine than send our boys to fight,” he pleaded, not without some emotion, during a press conference.

This aid plan — primarily military and economic assistance — also authorizes President Biden to confiscate and sell Russian assets to be used to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. An idea that is gaining ground with other G7 countries.

Israel, Gaza, TikTok

Among the other parts of the grand plan: $13 billion in military assistance to the United States’ historic ally, Israel, at war with Hamas.

These funds will be used in particular to strengthen the Israeli anti-missile shield, the “Iron Dome”.

More than $9 billion is also planned to “respond to the urgent need for humanitarian aid in Gaza and other vulnerable populations around the world,” according to a summary of the text.

As Joe Biden had called for, this bill devotes $8 billion to stand up to China militarily and come to the aid of Taiwan.

It also plans a text threatening to ban TikTok in the United States.

The video platform is accused of allowing Beijing to spy on and manipulate its 170 million users in the United States.

Johnson, in an ejection seat

The Biden administration said it was “very supportive” of all of these measures.

The president’s spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, also indicated on Friday that the flow of American aid to Ukraine would resume “immediately” after the adoption of this text by both houses of Congress.

The adoption of this envelope would allow the allies of the United States to breathe a big sigh of relief.

But it could, on the other hand, cost Republican leader Mike Johnson his job: a handful of conservative elected officials, fiercely opposed to aid to Ukraine, have promised to do everything to remove the “speaker” in order to punish him for his support .

His predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, had already been dismissed last year after a rebellion by the Trumpist wing of his party, which accused him of a “secret agreement” with the Democrats on Ukraine.