1y ago

Senate Approves Aid for Ukraine and Israel, Sending It to Biden’s Desk

www.nytimes.com

The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday night to give final approval to a $95.3 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending it to President Biden and ending months of uncertainty about whether the United States would continue to back Kyiv in its fight against Russian aggression.

The vote reflected resounding bipartisan support for the measure, which passed the House on Saturday by lopsided margins after a tortured journey on Capitol Hill, where it was nearly derailed by right-wing resistance. The Senate’s action, on a vote of 79 to 18, provided a victory for the president, who had urged lawmakers to move quickly so he could sign it into law.

And it capped an extraordinary political saga that raised questions about whether the United States would continue to play a leading role in upholding the international order and projecting its values globally.

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This also includes the provision for TikTok's owners to either divest to a US-based entity or be banned from the states. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
- Biden said he’s going to sign it tomorrow. Then Bytedance has 9 months to fight it in court, sell it and or shut it down.
  National security legislation tends to get upheld in courts, and TikTok has a $50b valuation, so my money is on them selling.
  
  China says they aren't allowed to sell the algorithm. How much is it worth without that?
- My hunch is Zuck is salivating over divestment and was lobbying for this. However I think bytedance won’t divest since the US market only represents under 5% of the user base.
  This is gonna bite Biden in the ass hard with the younger generations if he signs it and then they won’t vote (granted a lot don’t vote anyway). They’ll see it as an out of touch old government trying to silence our voices and give money away for war rather than help people. Will definitely be interesting to see how it unfolds.
  
  As you said, the younguns don't vote, and the ones dumb enough not to vote for Biden over this weren't going to vote for him anyway. The sooner I never hear the phrase "on TikTok" again, the better.
  
  People like Zuck are the reason I think you over estimate the backlash. Gen Z is millennial+ with more brains and fewer of our shortcomings. I’m certain I saw an article, on lemmy, showing younger generations being jaded on social media in general and aware of its many, many negative impacts.
  
  That they let zuck get away with all his toxic, deadly crap, including election interference, but worry about tiktok says they're really just protecting the kleptocracy. I'm not fond of tiktok but zuck/all things meta are just as toxic and dangerous.
- Mixing support to Israel with the same bill as support to ukraine was a nasty move too. Is it just to save time? It makes no sense that they would do that
About damn time
Bernie Sanders had the best response: https://youtu.be/3_M7XOiguuw
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://piped.video/3_M7XOiguuw
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
- Wow. Some fascinating numbers in those polls.
  
  You can never underestimate Democrats' ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday night to give final approval to a $95.3 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending it to President Biden and ending months of uncertainty about whether the United States would continue to back Kyiv in its fight against Russian aggression.
And it capped an extraordinary political saga that raised questions about whether the United States would continue to play a leading role in upholding the international order and projecting its values globally.
“Our allies around the world have been watching Congress for the last six months and wondering the same thing: When it matters most, will America summon the strength to come together, overcome the centrifugal pull of partisanship and meet the magnitude of the moment?” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said on Tuesday.
In addition to the package of sweeteners, which also includes new rounds of sanctions on Iranian and Russian officials, the House added provisions to direct the president to seek repayment from the Ukrainian government of $10 billion in economic assistance.
In extensive remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday before the procedural vote, Mr. McConnell cast congressional approval of the aid package as “a test of American resolve, our readiness and our willingness to lead.” He rebuked the naysayers in his party, criticizing those who, he said, would “indulge the fantasy of pulling up a drawbridge.”
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, posted a photograph on social media of lawmakers holding American flags inside the chamber in Kyiv, in “gratitude to the United States and to every member of the House of Representatives who supported the Ukraine Aid Bill.
The original article contains 1,117 words, the summary contains 280 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Aid for the muppets..
- Reductive nonsense at best. Try harder.

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