The Senate has begun consideration of a package, H.R.815 – Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes, to deliver $95 billion in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The legislation, which includes four bills, passed the House over the weekend with bipartisan support. President Joe Biden urged the Senate to quickly advance the measures to his desk. The legislation ties together four bills that the House voted on separately in a rare Saturday session, providing nearly $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, over $26 billion for Israel and more than $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific. The first three bills are very similar to the package that the Senate passed earlier this year, which House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) had originally refused to bring to the House floor. The fourth bill increases sanctions on Russian assets and contains language that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the US. It gives Chinese parent company ByteDance roughly nine months to sell TikTok, or the app will be banned from American app stores. The Senate begins this afternoon with two procedural votes and while the chamber is expected to have enough support from both parties to pass the legislation, the exact timing for a final vote remains a question as any one senator can slow the process before sending the package to President Biden for his signature, though it is expected to pass by midweek. Senate leaders are trying to cut a deal allowing for a final vote sometime Tuesday, according leadership in both parties.
