President Biden signed a $95.3 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on Wednesday, reaffirming U.S. support for Kyiv in the fight against Russia’s military assault after months of congressional gridlock put the centerpiece of the White House’s foreign policy in jeopardy.
“It’s a good day for world peace,” Mr. Biden said from the State Dining Room of the White House. “It’s going to make America safer, it’s going to make the world safer, and it continues America’s leadership in the world and everyone knows it.”
The Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve the package on Tuesday night, a sign of bipartisan support after increasingly divisive politics raised questions on Capitol Hill and among U.S. allies over whether the United States would continue to back Kyiv. The 79-to-18 vote provided Mr. Biden another legislative accomplishment to point to, even in the face of an obstructionist House.
Even as he hailed the package, Mr. Biden said the process should have “been easier, and should have gotten there sooner.”
“It was a difficult path,” he added, noting that those on the ground in Ukraine had cheered the news. “But in the end we did what America always does. We rose to the moment.”
As he manages support for two wars, Mr. Biden is also facing backlash in the United States over his support of Israel in the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians.
