Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan package gets Biden’s nod

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that he strongly supports a proposal from US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, an effort to approve US$95 billion in funding for the US allies.

Before the potential weekend voting, Johnson was facing a choice between potentially losing his job and aiding Ukraine.

He would forge on, despite criticism from fellow Republicans, he said earlier on Wednesday.

Shortly after Johnson released the aid proposals, the president offered his emphatic support for the package.

“The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow,” Biden said. “I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed.”

Johnson plans to hold votes on three funding packages — to provide about US$61 billion for Ukraine, US$26 billion for Israel and US$8 billion to allies in the Indo-Pacific — as well as several other foreign policy proposals in a fourth bill.

The plan roughly matches the amounts that the Senate has already approved.

The bulk of the money for Ukraine would go to purchasing weapons and ammunitions from US defense manufacturers.

Johnson is also proposing that US$9 billion of economic assistance for Kyiv be structured as forgivable loans, along with greater oversight on military aid, but the decision to support Ukraine at all has angered some Republican representatives and given new energy to a threat to remove him as speaker.

“Look, history judges us for what we do. This is a critical time right now,” Johnson told reporters.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he planned to gather Democrats for a meeting to discuss the package “as a caucus, as a family, as a team.”