Biden signs a $95 billion war aid measure with assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a $95 billion war aid measure that includes aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and also includes a provision that would force social media site TikTok to be sold or banned in the U.S.

The announcement marks an end to the long, painful battle with Republicans in Congress over urgently needed aid to Ukraine.

“We have come to the moment. we came together. and we got it done,” Biden said at a White House event to announce the signing. “Now we have to act quickly, and we do.”

But significant damage has been done to the Biden administration’s efforts to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s brutal invasion during the funding standoff that dates back to August, when the Democratic president made his first request for emergency aid spending to Ukraine. Even with a burst of new weapons and ammunition, Ukraine is unlikely to bounce back immediately after months of setbacks.

Biden said the transfer of an initial relief package of military aid will begin within hours — the first tranche of about $61 billion that U.S. officials say has been allocated to Ukraine. It is expected to include air defense capabilities, artillery rounds, armored vehicles and other weapons to support Ukrainian forces that have seen morale plummet as Russian President Vladimir Putin has racked up victory after victory.

But in the longer term, it remains uncertain whether Ukraine – after months of losses in eastern Ukraine and massive damage to its infrastructure – can make enough progress to maintain US political support before the country burns the latest influx of money.

“Things are not going well for the Ukrainians in the Donbas, especially elsewhere in the country,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said, referring to the eastern industrial heartland where Ukraine has suffered setbacks. “Mr. Putin thinks he can gain time. So we should try to catch up on some of that time.”

Russia now seems focused on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. Russian forces have exploited the city’s air defense shortage, ravaging the region’s energy infrastructure and seeking to create conditions for a possible summer offensive to capture the city.

House Speaker Mike Johnson delayed a vote on the additional aid package for months as members of his party’s far-right wing, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, threatened to impeach him if he would allow a vote. more aid to Ukraine. Those threats remain.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested that blocking funding by his fellow Republicans could have a lasting impact on Ukraine’s hopes of winning the war.

“Make no mistake: delays in delivering weapons to Ukraine to defend itself have dented the prospects for defeating Russian aggression,” McConnell said Tuesday. “Doubt and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face.”

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive candidate for the 2024 presidential election, has complained that European allies have not done enough for Ukraine. Although he did not approve the additional financing package, his tone has changed in recent days, acknowledging that Ukraine’s survival is important to the United States.

Many European leaders have long been nervous that a second Trump presidency would lead to reduced American support for Ukraine and the NATO military alliance. European concerns were heightened in February when Trump warned NATO allies in a campaign speech that he would “encourage Russia to do whatever they want” to countries that fail to meet defense spending targets when he returns to the White House.

It was a key moment in the debate over spending in Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg quickly called out Trump for “putting American and European soldiers in greater danger.” Days later, Biden called Trump’s comments “dangerous” and “un-American” and accused Trump of playing into Putin’s hands.

But in reality, the White House’s maneuvering to secure additional funding for Ukraine began months earlier.

Biden, the day after returning from a whirlwind trip to Tel Aviv following Hamas militants’ stunning Oct. 7 attack on Israel, used a rare prime-time address to make his pitch for the additional funding.

At the time, the House of Representatives was in chaos as the Republican majority had failed to select a speaker to replace Representative Kevin McCarthy, who had been impeached more than two weeks earlier. McCarthy’s reckoning with the Republican Party’s far right came after he agreed earlier this year to authorize federal spending levels that many in his right flank disagreed with and wanted undone.

Far-right Republicans have also strongly opposed sending more money to Ukraine, saying there appears to be no end in sight to the war. Biden asked for more than $20 billion in August to keep aid flowing to Ukraine, but the money was cut from a spending bill that needed to be passed even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington to make a personal plea for continued US support.

In late October, Republicans finally chose Johnson, a low-profile Republican from Louisiana whose views on Ukraine were opaque, to serve as their next speaker. During his congratulatory call with Johnson, Biden urged him to quickly approve Ukrainian aid and began a months-long, largely behind-the-scenes effort to put the issue to a vote.

In private conversations with Johnson, Biden and White House officials highlighted the commitment to Europe if Ukraine were to fall into the hands of Russia. Five days after Johnson was formally elected president, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan outlined to him the government’s strategy on Ukraine and assured him that accountability measures had been put in place in Ukraine to monitor where aid was going – an attempt to to address a common complaint from conservatives. .

Under explicit orders from Biden himself, White House officials also avoided a direct attack on Johnson over the stalled aid — a directive the president had repeatedly imposed on his senior staff.

In turn, Johnson appeared to White House officials as a direct and fair player during the negotiations, a senior administration official said. Biden had success earlier in his term finding common ground with Republicans to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure deal, legislation to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry, and an expansion of federal health care services for veterans who were exposed of toxic smoke from burn pits. And he knew there was enough Republican support for further financing of Ukraine.

At frustrating moments during the negotiations, Biden urged aides to “just keep talking, keep working,” said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal discussions.

So they did. At a daily meeting convened by White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, the president’s top aides — seated around a large oval table in Zients’ office — would brainstorm possible ways to address Ukraine’s dire situation. to draw more attention to the lack of help.

Steve Ricchetti, adviser to the president, and legal affairs director Shuwanza Goff were in regular contact with Johnson. Goff and Johnson’s senior staff also spoke often as a deal came into view.

The White House also tried to accommodate Johnson and his various requests. For example, at the speaker’s request, administration officials asked Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. – two conservatives who were staunch opponents of Johnson.

All the while, senior Biden officials kept McConnell and key Republican committee leaders, including Reps. Michael McCaul and Mike Turner, regularly informed.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Biden’s instinct to resist pushing Johnson proved correct.

“Joe Biden has a very good sense of when to intervene heavily and when to try to shape things,” Schumer said.

Publicly, the administration has deployed a strategy to downgrade the intelligence community, demonstrating Russia’s efforts to strengthen ties with U.S. adversaries China, North Korea and Iran to strengthen Moscow’s defense industrial complex and strengthen U.S. and to circumvent European sanctions.

For example, U.S. officials this month released intelligence findings showing that China has increased sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn uses to produce missiles, tanks, planes and other weapons. Previously, the White House published intelligence that Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and attack drones from Iran.

The $61 billion could help triage Ukrainian forces, but Kiev will need much more for a fight that could last years, military experts say.

Realistic goals in the coming months for Ukraine – and its allies – include avoiding the loss of major cities, slowing Russia’s momentum and getting additional weapons to Kiev that could help them on the offensive in 2025 to go, according to Bradley Bowman, a defense strategy and policy. analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington.

“In our microwave culture, we tend to want immediate results,” says Bowman. “And sometimes things are just difficult and you can’t get results right away. I think Ukrainian success is not guaranteed, but Russian success is if we stop supporting Ukraine.”

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This story has been corrected to show the signing was Wednesday, not Thursday.

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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.