The bill passed the Senate on an overwhelming 79-18 vote late Tuesday after the House had approved the package Saturday. President Biden, who worked with congressional leaders to win support, said in a statement immediately after passage that he will sign it Wednesday.
“Tonight, a bipartisan majority in the Senate joined the House to answer history’s call at this critical inflection point,” Biden said.
The legislation would also send $26 billion in wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza, and $8 billion to counter Chinese threats in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific.
In an interview with The Associated Press shortly before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that if Congress hadn’t passed the aid, “America would have paid a price economically, politically, militarily."
“Very few things we have done have risen to this level of historic importance,” he said.
On the Senate floor, Schumer said the Senate was sending a message to U.S. allies: “We will stand with you.”
Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made passage of the legislation a top priority, agreeing to tie the Ukraine and Israel aid to help ensure passage and arguing there could be dire consequences for the United States and many of its global allies if Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression is left unchecked. They worked with House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, to overcome seemingly intractable Republican opposition to the Ukraine aid, in particular — eventually winning large majorities in both chambers.
McConnell said in a separate interview before the vote that it "is one of the biggest days in the time that I’ve been here.”
“At least on this episode, I think we turned the tables on the isolationists," McConnell said.
In the end, 31 Republicans voted for the aid package — nine more than when the Senate passed a similar version in February, and a majority of the Senate GOP conference. The House approved the package in a series of four votes on Saturday, with the Ukraine portion passing 311-112.
The $61 billion for Ukraine comes as the war-torn country desperately needs new firepower and as Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up his attacks. Ukrainian soldiers have struggled as Russia has seized the momentum on the battlefield and gained significant territory.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime hawk who voted against the foreign aid package in February because it wasn’t paired with legislation to stem migration at the border, was one of the Republicans who switched their votes. “If we don't help Ukraine now, this war will spread, and Americans who are not involved will be involved,” Graham said.
The package has had broad congressional support since Biden first requested the money last summer. But congressional leaders had to navigate strong opposition from a growing number of conservatives who question U.S. involvement in foreign wars and argue that Congress should be focused instead on the surge of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican who is a close ally to Donald Trump, said that despite the strong showing of support for funding Ukraine’s defense, opposition is growing among Republicans.
“The United States is spread too thin," Vance said, "And that argument, I think, is winning the American people and it’s slowly winning the Senate, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”
The growing fault line in the GOP between those conservatives who are skeptical of the aid and the more traditional “Reagan Republicans" who strongly support it may prove to be career-defining for the two top Republican leaders.
Opponents in the Senate, like the House, included some left-wing senators who are opposed to aiding Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has bombarded Gaza and killed thousands of civilians. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., voted against the package.
“We must end our complicity in this terrible war,” Sanders said.
