US Senate passes $95 bln aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan: voting results

On February 8, the upper house of the U.S. Congress, the Senate, adopted a procedural decision to continue consideration of a bill to provide additional assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The senators managed to get enough votes in their first vote to pass this military support package.

"67 in favor. A significant advantage. Now the discussion has begun, and there will be another vote... 17 out of 49 Republicans voted in favor," said MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak (Holos). Thus, the Senate was able to move on to consider the substance of the aid package for Ukraine and other allies.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also warned that the bill would be amended, "We will work on this bill until the job is done."

The vote in the Senate is not final. However, it generally demonstrates the readiness of the United States to make decisions on financing allies, including Ukraine, during a political crisis.

The final decision on the $95.34 billion military aid package will be made by the Senate (possibly today) and the House of Representatives (approximately February 12-18).

Andrii Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, has already commented on the Senate's decision. "A historic vote! I am deeply grateful to the U.S. Senate for its determination to protect our values and independence. This is an important step in strengthening our common struggle for peace and freedom," he wrote.

The day before, on February 7, Senate Republicans blocked a major bipartisan deal that included funding for Ukraine and Israel and allocating funds to secure the US border. In total, it was about $118 billion.

With the current vote, the funds for the state border were "removed" from this package. It was Chuck Schumer who proposed to abandon the border deal after the vote failed. The updated bill, in particular, provides for $60 billion in aid to Ukraine.

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