We were waiting for the end of this political soap opera which has kept the world in suspense for several months. The American House of Representatives will vote, this Saturday, April 20 from 7 p.m. (French time), on several key subjects, including a major aid plan for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan – supported by elected officials from both edges. This gigantic envelope of 95 billion dollars has been requested for months by President Joe Biden. Parliamentarians will vote at the same time on a possible ban on the TikTok application, attached to this bill. If all these measures are adopted, they will be examined by the Senate immediately.
Unveiled on Wednesday, these texts are the result of months of extremely tense negotiations, the comings and goings of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, and pressure from allies around the world. Friday April 19, the Ukrainian head of state asked NATO to deliver weapons as quickly as possible to his country which “cannot wait any longer” in the face of Russian pressure.
“The Ukrainian president made clear the stakes, saying this week that without American support, his country could not win the war,” assures the New York Timestranslated by International mail. In the same vein, the Wall Street Journal questions : “Will America Let Ukraine Collapse?” For his part, CIA Director William Burns warned Thursday April 18 that there was a “real risk that the Ukrainians would lose on the battlefield by the end of 2024” against Russia. At the announcement of this Saturday’s vote, which provides 61 billion dollars for kyiv, the Ukrainian media rejoiced. The site Evropeiska Pravda headline, April 18: “Congress prepares for Ukraine’s victory.”
The United States is kyiv’s main military backer, but Congress has not passed a major package for its ally in nearly a year and a half – mainly due to partisan wrangling. Democratic President Joe Biden and his party in Congress are very supportive of new aid for Ukraine, at war with Russia. But the Republicans, led by Donald Trump, are increasingly reluctant to finance a conflict which is getting bogged down.
Behind this vote, the Trump-Biden duel
However, this time the text benefits from the support of a “rare bipartisan coalition” between Democrats and moderate Republicans, making its adoption “likely”, according to the Washington Post. And hope is also visible in kyiv. “Thanks to our intense work with both parties and the committee’s approval of voting procedures today, I am cautiously optimistic this time,” said Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, Friday April 19.
After months of procrastination, the Republican leader of the House, Mike Johnson, ended up supporting this package for Ukraine. “To put it bluntly: I would rather send ammunition to Ukraine than send our boys to fight,” he pleaded, not without some emotion, during a press conference. This aid plan – mainly military and economic assistance – also authorizes President Joe Biden to confiscate and sell Russian assets to be used to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. An idea that is gaining ground with other G7 countries.
Among the other parts of the big plan: 13 billion dollars in military assistance to the historic ally of the United States, Israel, at war with Hamas. These funds will be used in particular to strengthen the Israeli anti-missile shield, the “Iron Dome”. More than $9 billion is also planned to “respond to the urgent need for humanitarian aid in Gaza and other vulnerable populations around the world,” according to a summary of the text.
Mike Johnson’s job in danger?
As Joe Biden had called for, this bill devotes $8 billion to stand up to China militarily by investing in submarines, and to help Taiwan. It also provides for the ban on TikTok in the United States, unless the social network cuts its ties with its parent company ByteDance, and more broadly with China. The very popular video platform is accused of allowing Beijing to spy on and manipulate its 170 million users in the United States. The Biden administration said it was “very supportive” of all these measures. For his part, billionaire Elon Musk spoke out against it in the name of “freedom of expression”.
And after this crucial vote? The spokesperson for the Democratic president, Karine Jean-Pierre, indicated on Friday April 19 that the flow of American aid to Ukraine would resume “immediately” after the adoption of this text by both houses of Congress. It could only be a matter of days: the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, promised that his parliamentarians would “act quickly” after the vote in the House. The adoption of this envelope would allow the allies of the United States to breathe a big sigh of relief.
But it could, on the other hand, cost Republican leader Mike Johnson his job: a handful of conservative elected officials, fiercely opposed to aid to Ukraine, have promised to do everything to remove the “speaker” in order to punish him for his support . His predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, had already been dismissed last year after a rebellion by the Trumpist wing of his party, which accused him of a “secret agreement” with the Democrats on Ukraine.