Biden signs a $95 billion war aid measure with assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
President Joe Biden signed into law on Wednesday a $95 billion war aid measure that includes aid 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.
The announcement marks an end to the long, painful battle with Republicans in Congress over urgently needed assistance for Ukraine.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We rose to the moment, we came together, and we got it done," Biden said at White House event to announce the signing. "Now we need to move fast, and we are.바카라 게임 웹사이트
But significant damage has been done to the Biden administration바카라 게임 웹사이트s effort to help Ukraine repel Russia바카라 게임 웹사이트s 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's unlikely Ukraine will immediately recover after months of setbacks.
Biden approved immediately sending Ukraine $1 billion in military assistance and said the shipment would begin arriving in the 바카라 게임 웹사이트next few hours" 바카라 게임 웹사이트 the first tranche from about $61 billion allocated for Ukraine. The package includes 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.
But longer term, it remains uncertain if Ukraine 바카라 게임 웹사이트 after months of losses in Eastern Ukraine and sustaining massive damage to its infrastructure 바카라 게임 웹사이트 can make enough progress to sustain American political support before burning through the latest influx of money.
바카라 게임 웹사이트It바카라 게임 웹사이트s not going in the Ukrainians' favor in the Donbas, certainly not elsewhere in the country,바카라 게임 웹사이트 said White House national security spokesman John Kirby, referring to the eastern industrial heartland where Ukraine has suffered setbacks. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Mr. Putin thinks he can play for time. So we바카라 게임 웹사이트ve got to try to make up some of that time.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Tucked into the measure is a provision that gives TikTok바카라 게임 웹사이트s 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 there바카라 게임 웹사이트s a path to divestiture and 바카라 게임 웹사이트significant progress바카라 게임 웹사이트 toward executing it.
The administration and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have called the social media site a growing national security concern.
TikTok said it will wage a legal challenge against what it called an 바카라 게임 웹사이트unconstitutional바카라 게임 웹사이트 effort by Congress.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail,바카라 게임 웹사이트 the company said in a statement.
The bill also includes about $26 billion in aid for Israel and a surge of about $1 billion in humanitarian relief for Palestinians in Gaza suffering as continues. Biden said Israel must ensure the humanitarian aid for Palestinians in bill reaches Gaza 바카라 게임 웹사이트without delay.바카라 게임 웹사이트
House Speaker Mike Johnson delayed a vote on the supplemental aid package for months as members of his party's far right wing, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, threatened to if he allowed a vote to send more assistance to Ukraine. Those threats persist.
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's survival is important to the United States.
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 바카라 게임 웹사이트would encourage바카라 게임 웹사이트 Russia 바카라 게임 웹사이트to do whatever the hell they want바카라 게임 웹사이트 to countries that don't meet defense spending goals if he returns to the White House.
It was a key moment in the debate over Ukraine spending. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg quickly called out Trump for putting 바카라 게임 웹사이트American and European soldiers at increased risk.바카라 게임 웹사이트 Biden days later called Trump's comments "dangerous" and 바카라 게임 웹사이트un-American바카라 게임 웹사이트 and accused Trump of playing into Putin's hands.
But in reality, the White House maneuvering to win additional funding for Ukraine started months earlier.
Biden, the day after returning from a whirlwind trip to Tel Aviv following Hamas militants' stunning Oct. 7 attack on Israel, used a rare prime time address to make his pitch for the supplemental funding.
At the time, the House was in chaos because the Republican majority had been unable to select a speaker to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who had been ousted more than two weeks earlier. McCarthy바카라 게임 웹사이트s reckoning with the GOP's 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.
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.
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.
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's strategy on Ukraine and assured him that accountability measures were in place in Ukraine to track where the aid was going 바카라 게임 웹사이트 an effort to address a common complaint from conservatives.
On explicit orders from Biden, White House officials also avoided directly attacking Johnson over the stalled aid.
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.
Biden praised Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying in the end they 바카라 게임 웹사이트stepped up and did the right thing.바카라 게임 웹사이트
바카라 게임 웹사이트History will remember this moment," Biden said. "For all the talk about how dysfunctional things are in Washington, when you look over the past three years, we바카라 게임 웹사이트ve seen it time and again on the critical issues. We바카라 게임 웹사이트ve actually come together.바카라 게임 웹사이트
At frustrating moments during the negotiations, Biden urged his aides to 바카라 게임 웹사이트just keep talking, keep working,바카라 게임 웹사이트 according to the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
So they did. In a daily meeting convened by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, the president's top aides 바카라 게임 웹사이트 seated around a big oval table in Zients' office 바카라 게임 웹사이트 would brainstorm possible ways to better make the case about Ukraine바카라 게임 웹사이트s dire situation in the absence of aid.
Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, and legislative affairs director Shuwanza Goff were in regular contact with Johnson. Goff and Johnson바카라 게임 웹사이트s senior staff also spoke frequently as a deal came into focus.
The White House also sought to accommodate Johnson and his various asks. For instance, administration officials at the speaker's request briefed Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., two conservatives who were persistent antagonists of Johnson.
All the while, senior Biden officials frequently updated McConnell as well as key Republican committee leaders, including Reps. Michael McCaul and Mike Turner.
In public, the administration deployed a strategy of downgrading intelligence that demonstrated Russia's efforts to tighten its ties with U.S. adversaries China, North Korea and Iran to fortify Moscow's defense industrial complex and get around U.S. and European sanctions.
The $61 billion can help triage Ukrainian forces, but Kyiv will need much more for a fight that could last years, military experts say.
Realistic goals for the months ahead for Ukraine 바카라 게임 웹사이트 and its allies 바카라 게임 웹사이트 include avoiding the loss of major cities, slowing Russia's momentum and getting additional weaponry to Kyiv that could help them go on the offensive in 2025, said Bradley Bowman, a defense strategy and policy analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington.
바카라 게임 웹사이트In our microwave culture, we tend to want immediate results,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Bowman said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트And sometimes things are just hard and you can바카라 게임 웹사이트t get immediate results. I think Ukrainian success is not guaranteed, but Russian success is if we stop supporting Ukraine."
Biden lamented that the package did not include money to bolster U.S. border security. The White House had proposed including in the package provisions that it said would have helped stem the tide of migrants and asylum seekers coming to the U.S.
Republicans, however, rejected the proposal at the urging of Trump, who did not want to give Biden the win on an issue that바카라 게임 웹사이트s been an albatross for the Democratic administration.
바카라 게임 웹사이트It should have been included in this bill,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Biden said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트I바카라 게임 웹사이트m determined to get it done for the American people.바카라 게임 웹사이트
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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Haleluya Hadero, Mary Clare Jalonick and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.