The $95 billion foreign aid package is awaiting President Joe Biden's signature after the Senate approved the bill on Tuesday afternoon.
The package comes in a multi-bill deal featuring a loan structure for aid to Israel, Ukraine, and the Indo-Pacific region. The Senate also approved a measure to ban TikTok citing it as a national security matter.
The four bills, introduced last week by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, allocate funds for foreign aid citing emergency requirements of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. Over $60 billion has been allocated for aid in Ukraine, along with over $26 billion for Israel, and another $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific region.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell teed off on Congress for delaying aid to Ukraine during a Tuesday press conference.
"So much of the hesitation and short-sightedness that has delayed this moment is premised on sheer fiction," McConnell said of detractors to the aid package.
"Delay in providing Ukraine the weapons to defend itself has strained the prospects of defeating Russia aggression," McConnell continued. "Dithering and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face."
"I'll continue to hold the commander in chief to account," he said. "At the same time, I will not mince words when members of my own party take the responsibilities of American leadership lightly."
Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a statement on the House's approval of the aid package over the weekend. "I am grateful to the United States House of Representatives, both parties, and personally Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track. Democracy and freedom will always have global significance and will never fail as long as America helps to protect it," Zelenskyy said in a statement. "The vital U.S. aid bill passed today by the House will keep the war from expanding, save thousands and thousands of lives, and help both of our nations to become stronger. We hope that bills will be supported in the Senate and sent to President Biden's desk. Thank you, America!" Zelenskyy added.
The House approved the $95 billion legislation over the weekend. Congressional Democrats waved Ukrainian flags on the House floor in celebration of the bill's passage, which was met with intense criticism.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee opposed the legislation and encouraged Senate Republicans to oppose the bill.
"It only takes 41 senators to stop it," he wrote in an X post.
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