Senate Moves Toward Approving Foreign Aid Bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

The Senate was headed on Tuesday toward a critical vote to clear the way for final consideration of the $95.3 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, setting the stage for approving the bill and sending it to President Biden for his signature.

The measure, passed by the House on Saturday, was expected to draw broad bipartisan support in a test vote scheduled for early afternoon. That would tee up a vote on final passage as early as Tuesday evening. Mr. Biden has urged lawmakers to move quickly on the bill so he can sign it into law.

“The Senate convenes at a moment nearly six months in the making,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said. “A few days ago, the House of Representatives at long last approved essential national security funding for Ukraine, for Israel, for the Indo-Pacific and for humanitarian assistance. Today it is the Senate’s turn to act.”

“Let us not delay this,” he continued. “Let us not prolong this. Let us not keep our friends around the world waiting for a moment longer.”

The House on Saturday passed the package in four pieces: a measure for each of the three U.S. allies, and another meant to sweeten the deal for conservatives that includes a provision that could result in a nationwide ban of TikTok. They sent legislation to the Senate as a single package that will require only one up-or-down vote to pass. Speaker Mike Johnson structured the legislation that way in the House to capture different coalitions of support without allowing opposition to any one element to defeat the whole thing.

The bill’s components are nearly identical to one that passed the Senate with bipartisan support in February. It includes $60.8 billion for Ukraine; $26.4 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza; and $8.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific region.

In addition to the package of sweeteners, which also includes a new round of sanctions on Iran, the House added provisions to direct the president to seek repayment from the Ukrainian government of $10 billion in economic assistance. That was a nod to a call by former President Donald J. Trump to make any further aid to Kyiv a loan. But the bill would allow the president to forgive those loans starting in 2026.

Some hard-line Republicans who oppose continuing to send aid to Ukraine are expected to vote against the legislation, as are some liberal Democrats, who have said they cannot endorse sending more offensive weapons to Israel at a time when the government’s campaign in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of people and created a hunger crisis there.

But the vast majority of senators are expected to support the legislation, and Senate leaders regarded the bill’s imminent passage as a particular triumph, given the monthslong opposition to aid for Ukraine that had built up in the House.

For months, Mr. Johnson and right-wing Republicans in the House had refused to entertain considering aid to Ukraine unless Mr. Biden agreed to a series of stringent measures to curtail immigration on the U.S. border with Mexico. When Senate Democrats agreed earlier this year to legislation that paired the aid with stiffer border enforcement provisions, Mr. Trump denounced it and Republicans rejected it out of hand.

Then the Senate passed its own $95 billion emergency aid legislation for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan without any immigration measures, ramping up political pressure on the House to do the same. The message to Mr. Johnson from Mr. Schumer and Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, was the same: Pass the Senate bill.

In extensive remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday ahead of 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,” and rebuked those who, he said, would “indulge the fantasy of pulling up a drawbridge.”

“Make no mistake: Delay in providing Ukraine the weapons to defend itself has strained the prospects of defeating Russian aggression,” Mr. McConnell said. “Dithering and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face. Today’s action is overdue, but our work does not end here. Trust in American resolve is not rebuilt overnight. Expanding and restocking the arsenal of democracy doesn’t just happen by magic.”