The U.S. Senate approved a bill authorizing $95.3 billion of military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that finally made it through Congress on Saturday over the opposition of Republican legislators aligned with former President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden is expected to quickly sign it into law, ending a monthslong impasse over a military aid package that Ukraine in particular desperately needs. (N.Y. Times)
Our Take
The authorization of the aid package puts an end to an episode that highlighted the willingness and ability of a small coterie of Republican extremists to paralyze U.S. action on a key national security interest: helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion. But it leaves key questions unanswered, both with regard to U.S. foreign policy, and Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield.
To begin with, it’s still uncertain what drove Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a conservative Republican, to buck the Trump-aligned faction on the military aid bill by passing it with the help of Democratic legislators. So it remains to be seen whether this sets a precedent for when divisive issues of foreign and defense policy come before the House in the future.