Congress clears $95bn aid package for Ukraine and Israel
By Anthony Zurcher
The US Senate has approved a $95bn (£76bn) foreign aid package that includes military support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
President Joe Biden is expected to sign the legislation into law on Wednesday.
The Senate on Tuesday evening backed the measure passed by the US House of Representatives on Saturday.
It includes $61bn in military aid for Ukraine, which the Pentagon says can start being delivered to the war-torn nation “within days”.
It passed in a bipartisan vote of 79-18.
The Senate had passed a similar aid package in February, but a group of conservatives who oppose new Ukraine support prevented it from coming to a vote in the House of Representatives.
Last week, Democrats and Republicans in the lower chamber joined together to bypass this opposition.
They ultimately agreed to a package bill that included the foreign aid as well as legislation to confiscate Russian assets held by Western banks; new sanctions on Russia, Iran and China; and a provision that will force the Chinese company ByteDance to sell the popular social media service TikTok.
