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Friday's procedural vote, which passed 316-94 with more support
from Democrats than the Republicans who hold a narrow majority,
advanced a package similar to a measure that passed the
Democratic-majority Senate in February.
Democratic President Joe Biden, Democratic Senate Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer, top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell and
top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries had been pushing for a House
vote since then. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson had held
off in the face of opposition from a small but vocal segment of
his party.
In addition to the aid for allies, the package includes a
provision to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, and
sanctions targeting Hamas and Iran and to force China's
ByteDance to sell social media platform TikTok or face a ban in
the U.S.
The legislation provides more than $95 billion in security
assistance, including $9.1 billion for humanitarian aid, which
Democrats had demanded.
If the House passes the measure, as expected, the Senate will
need to follow suit to send it to Biden to sign into law.
Schumer on Friday told senators to be prepared to come back over
the weekend if needed.
Some conservative lawmakers oppose aid to Ukraine, and
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, has sent mixed
messages about it.
Some Democrats also oppose certain provisions in the bill,
notably on Israel aid, and had pushed for more conditions on
that assistance.
(Reporting by Makini Brice and Moira Warburton; Editing by Scott
Malone and Bill Berkrot)
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