Apr 24, 2024, 3:58 AM CEST
Sens. JD Vance and Bernie Sanders both voted against the foreign aid bill, but for very different reasons. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
- The Senate passed a bill to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan — and force a sale of TikTok.
- Three Democrats and 15 Republicans voted against it. It now heads to Biden’s desk.
- Republicans opposed the Ukraine aid, while some Democrats took issue with Israel aid.
Billions in aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan — along with a bill to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell off the popular app — are headed to President Joe Biden’s desk after months of delay.
The Senate passed the $95 billion package by a sweeping bipartisan margin on Tuesday, with 15 Republicans and three Democrats voting against the legislation.
Republicans generally voted against the package because of their long-standing opposition to Ukraine aid, while Democrats opposed the bill over the lack of conditions on Israel aid.
On Saturday, the House took separate votes on four individual components of the bill, a plan hatched by Speaker Mike Johnson that was designed to appease Republicans but also won plaudits from progressive Democrats.
That included a vote on a nearly $61 billion Ukraine aid bill, a more than $26 billion Israel aid bill, Taiwan aid, and a bill that combined an amended version of a previously approved TikTok bill that was combined with a bill allowing the US to seize Russian assets to pay for Ukraine aid.
37 House Democrats voted against Israel aid, while 112 House Republicans voted against Ukraine aid. 21 House Republicans voted against both packages.
The bill is broadly similar to a $95.3 billion aid package that passed the Senate in February, shortly after a bipartisan border deal collapsed in the face of opposition from former President Donald Trump and other congressional Republicans.
Most Republican senators — along with three Democrats — voted against that package.
But many of those Republicans, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, decided to support the new bill on Tuesday, bringing an end to a months-long fight in Congress over foreign aid and border policy that exposed divisions within both the Democratic and Republican parties.
Here are the 3 members of the Democratic caucus who voted against the bill:
- Bernie Sanders of Vermont
- Jeff Merkley of Oregon
- Peter Welch of Vermont
Here are the 15 GOP senators who voted against the bill:
- John Barrasso of Wyoming
- Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee
- Mike Braun of Indiana
- Ted Budd of North Carolina
- Ted Cruz of Texas
- Bill Hagerty of Tennessee
- Josh Hawley of Missouri
- Ron Johnson of Wisconsin
- Mike Lee of Utah
- Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming
- Roger Marshall of Kansas
- Marco Rubio of Florida
- Eric Schmitt of Missouri
- Rick Scott of Florida
- JD Vance of Ohio
(C)BUSINESS INSIDER 2024
18 Communists voted against aid for Ukraine and Israël, from Bernie Saunders till Ted Cruz.
Not exactly. Three lefties voted against weapons for Netanyahu, while 15 Rethuglicans tried to help Putin. It’s only that confusing because Johnson forced the Senate to vote on a united bill (while his House voted on seperate ones). 🤨
I watched a bit of their debating. Sanders was all for sending aid to Ukraine, but totally against aid to Israel. Did they lump all the bills together in Senate for a vote?
I’ve read, at the NYT, I think, that Johnson deliberately bundled the bills together (after the House had voted on them seperately) to ensure that all parts, including the TikTok provision, would pass Senate. 🤔
It’s a weird way of doing things. I assumed the bills would be voted on separately. It’s not only TikTok that needs banning, but Twitter, Telegram and someone to sort out YouTube’s anti Ukrainian stance.
I dumped commie Cruz in favor of Mike Johnson already.
You exchanged one bible-thumper for another, Mike? I’m a bit surprised you’re so much into evangelists. 😁
imagine caring about Palestina when Ukraine is at war.
^bert
I can imagine that, Bert. I’m actually not good at multitasking, but my brain’s still able to compute two big concerns at the same time. 🤖
I understand.
But what I mean is that I think Bernie Sanders makes a big mistake voting against the aid package just because of Gaza.
The aid package is like 100 steps forward and one step back.
He clearly isn’t seeing the big picture as the West is at war with Iran and Russia.
^bert
Well, I think you’re too harsh on good ole Senator Sanders there. The point is, the bill passed, and the experienced political fox Bernie knew about the probable vote count. If the passing gad been in jeopardy, he most probably woukd have acted differently. I do think that the three Dem Senators, who made a stand against US support for Netanyahu’s obvious strategy of making Gaza uninhabitable and forcing the residents out, sent a very important signal to both Biden and evil Bibi that there’s growing opposition against further Israeli takeovers of Palestinian territory. This unethical land grab, as illegal as Putin’s invasion, can’t be allowed to continue! 🤨
Hmm, I think about that differently.
I am not happy with the number of civilian casualties in Gaza, but in the grand scheme of things it is very important that Israel wins this battle.
I think after October Israel did not have a lot of choice and they had to take Gaza under control.
I do oppose all these settlements in the West-Bank, but I think that has little to none to do with HAMAS in Gaza.
Even if Israel abandoned all these settlements, I don’t think Iran/HAMAS would stop the shelling and infiltrations.
So first of all I think it looks bad that Sanders does not put his weight behind supporting Ukraine, and secondly I think it is important that Israel gets support as we cannot let Iran do whatever it wants unpunished.
^bert
Bert, you can’t win a war against terror by brutal violence against civilians, which will only lead to an increase of enraged, hatefilled extremists! IF Netanyahu’s had wanted to improve the security of his country, his decisions have been very counterproductive. Alas, that most certainly had not been his goal, as his political history proves. Since he vehemently and irresponsibly opposed Rabin’s peace plan, his intention has always been to prevent a Palestinian state and instead enable a total takeover of the Palestinian territories for Israel. Without giving the former residents citizen rights, of course. That goal is even included in the charter of Likud, which openly claims all the land “from the river to tbe sea” for the Jews. So, there can’t be any serious doubt that what evil Bibi is trying to accomplish is the next big step on the way, by makibg Gaza uninhabitable and driving “the Arabs” out. All of them, not only Hamas members!
Bert, you’re a reasonable person, so I hope that you do pay attention to the facts. Please don’t fall for the propaganda by the most rightwing extremist in Israeli history! To support this unscrupulous demagogue would be the totally wrong decision. Peace can’t be created by brutal, inhumane force, but only by deescalation and hard work at building common ground. The world needs a new Rabin now, not the same old Netanyahu! ☮