U.S President, Joe Biden has signed into law a $95 billion aid measure that includes assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Biden’s signature marks an end to long, painful battle with Republicans in Congress over urgently needed assistance for Ukraine.
“It’s going to make America safer. It’s going to make the world safer,” Biden said, in remarks delivered from the White House, shortly after signing the legislation.
“It was a difficult path. It should have been easier and it should have gotten there sooner. But in the end, we did what America always does. We rose to the moment, came together, and we got it done. Now we need to move fast, and we are.”
Joe Biden
US officials have said that the months-long delay hurt Ukraine on the battlefield.
Promising to “move fast,” Biden stated that the US would begin shipping weapons and equipment to Ukraine within a matter of hours.
It is expected to include air defense capabilities, artillery rounds, armored vehicles and other weapons to shore up Ukrainian forces.
Citing the Russian takeover of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka in February, John Kirby, White House Spokesman for national security council, told reporters, “The Russians have slowly but successfully taken more ground from the Ukrainians and pushed them back against their first, second, and, in some places, their third line of defense.”
He added, “Yes, there absolutely has been damage in the last several months.”
“It’s not going in the Ukrainians’ favor in the Donbas, certainly not elsewhere in the country,” Kirby, referring to the eastern industrial heartland where Ukraine has suffered setbacks, noted.
“Mr. Putin thinks he can play for time. So we’ve got to try to make up some of that time,” he said.
Military experts claim that the $61 billion can help triage Ukrainian forces, but Kyiv will need much more for a fight that could last years.
Even with a burst of new weapons and ammunition, it is unlikely Ukraine will immediately recover after months of setbacks.
Biden also underscored that the bill also includes a surge of humanitarian relief for Palestinians in Gaza suffering as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
Biden said that Israel must ensure the humanitarian aid for Palestinians in bill reaches Gaza “without delay.”
TikTok To Be Banned
The signed bill also has a provision that would force social media site TikTok to be sold or be banned in the U.S.
The provision gives TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, nine months to sell it or face a nationwide prohibition in the United States.
The President can grant a one-time extension of 90 days, bringing the timeline to sell to one year, if he certifies that there’s a path to divestiture and “significant progress” toward executing it.
The administration and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have called the social media site a growing national security concern.
TikTok said will wage a legal challenge against what it called an “unconstitutional” effort by Congress.
“We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail,” the company said in a statement.
It added, “The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans.”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a video posted shortly after the signing, “Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere.”
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