Dem
51
GOP
49
The $95 billion in funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan that passed the House over the weekend made it through the Senate last night with ease, with 79 senators (46 D, 31 R, 2 I) voting "yea," 18 senators (2 D, 15 R, 1 I) voting "nay," and 3 senators (3 R) not voting. The Republican nay votes came from the hard-right types, like Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), many of whom think they can get Donald Trump's blessing to succeed him as Dear Leader if they just kiss his posterior frequently and firmly enough. The Democratic and independent nay votes came from the progressives, Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The three members who did not show up to vote were Rand Paul (R-KY), Tim Scott (R-SC) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). Maybe they were all at one of those special parties that Madison Cawthorn used to enjoy so very much.
As a reminder of the whackadoodlery of the Trump years, recall that if he was in the Oval Office right now, his signature would be no guarantee, even if he'd supported the legislation while it was making its way through Congress. Remember the temper tantrum where he refused to sign the appropriations bills and shut down the government? This is not a problem with Joe Biden, who behaves like a normal president, just like most of his predecessors. He has already made clear his signature will be applied to the bill on Wednesday.
The most immediate impact of all of this is that Ukraine will start getting much-needed support very quickly. Probably not today, but by tomorrow the first shipments of war materiel will likely begin to arrive. Eventually, Israel and Taiwan will get their funding, too. Meanwhile, recall that the bill also requires ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company or else shut down. However, the company has a year to take care of that (unless lawsuits drag things out). Maybe the politicians gave ByteDance that much time because it was the fair and equitable thing to do. Or maybe they want any threats to TikTok's future to hit well after November's elections, so that young voters are not in a position to punish the mean members of Congress and the mean president. (Z)