WASHINGTON (CN) — The Senate Tuesday night cemented a major spending package, greenlighting a tranche of foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Pacific — as well as a measure aimed at clamping down on popular social media platform TikTok.
The upper chamber voted 79-18 to approve the sweeping bill which cleared the House last week despite objections from some of Congress’ more conservative lawmakers. The legislation cleared the Senate despite attempts from Utah Senator Mike Lee to delay its passage.
The evening vote capped off a legislative blitz to get the foreign aid package on President Biden’s desk Tuesday — the Senate earlier in the day voted 80-19 to limit debate on the bill, teeing up several hours of debate before lawmakers cast their ballots on final passage.
If the foreign aid bill is made law, it will open up roughly $95 billion in U.S. aid, the lion’s share of which will support Ukraine in its yearslong battle against Russia. The aid bill is nearly identical to a similar piece of legislation the upper chamber approved in February, which also included around $14 billion in assistance for Israel and nearly $5 billion for Taiwan and other allies in the Pacific region.
President Biden is expected to sign the measure.
Despite the largely bipartisan tenor of the aid bill, backed by both House and Senate leaders, a group of 18 senators, mostly Republicans, still voted against it. Lee, Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley and Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn all opposed the legislation.
Several Democrats, including Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Vermont Senators Bernie Sanders and Pete Welch broke with their party to vote the measure down.
Several Republicans who voted against the February aid bill appeared to have changed their minds Tuesday, casting their ballots in favor of the measure. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and Oklahoma Senator James Lankford were among the flips.
Speaking at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell placed much of the blame for his party’s reticence to back Ukraine aid at the feet of conservative media personality and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
“I believe the demonization of Ukraine began with Tucker Carlson, who in my opinion ended up where he should have been all along, which is interviewing Vladimir Putin,” said McConnell, referencing Carlson’s February exclusive with the Russian president.
The minority leader suggested that Carlson’s longtime criticism of U.S. involvement in the Ukraine war “convinced a lot of rank and file Republicans that maybe this was a mistake.”
McConnell also acknowledged the perspective of some of his colleagues — including many House Republicans — who have argued that Congress should prioritize addressing security issues at the Southwest border before approving fresh foreign aid.
While he said he was just as concerned about the border as the rest of his caucus, McConnell pointed out that the foreign aid bill still addresses what he framed as the growing threats of the moment.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, thanked McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson for reaching across the aisle to advance the $95 billion aid package.
Schumer in particular lauded Johnson, who he said “rose to the occasion” despite political pressure from his right flank to abandon foreign aid.
“We were of one mind to get this bill done,” he said of McConnell. “It was our bipartisanship … that got this large and difficult bill through the Congress despite many political ideologues who wanted to bring it down.”
Meanwhile, the foreign aid legislation also includes language aimed at forcing social media platform TikTok to divest from ByteDance, its parent company. The policy rider, which would give TikTok nine months to find new ownership, is the product of a monthslong effort by lawmakers to slap restrictions on the app.
Proponents of the divestment push have argued that ByteDance’s connections to China pose a national security threat and have said that their effort would merely see TikTok sold to an American company. Opponents, however, including some members of Congress, have framed divestment as tantamount to a ban.
They have also contended that lawmakers are unfairly targeting TikTok because of its foreign ownership, rather than examining similar security issues endemic to U.S. social media giants such as Facebook.
Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, Virginia Senator Mark Warner said that he has long been a critic of U.S. communications platforms that have been exploited by foreign powers but argued that American companies are not beholden to any government.
“At the end of the day, our platforms are at least independent businesses,” he said. “They do not have a vested interest in undermining our basic democratic system. I can’t say the same for TikTok.”
TikTok has accused lawmakers of using the foreign aid bill as cover to approve what it still frames as a federal ban on the platform, writing in a post on X, formerly Twitter, last week that the measure would “trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy annually.”
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