US Congress takes first step to provide aid to Ukraine

The US House of Representatives voted on 19 April to bring the long-awaited Ukraine aid bill to the floor.

A total of 316 members of the lower house of the US Congress voted in favour of the bill, while 94 voted against. A simple majority of 218 votes was enough to adopt the decision.

This procedure allows four bills on foreign aid and countering Russia, Iran, and China to be submitted to the House of Representatives for consideration, which will reportedly take place on Saturday, 20 April.

Members of the House will consider all the amendments that had passed the procedural committee earlier and then put the bills to a vote one by one.

Four amendments were admitted to the "Ukrainian" package: two propose to exclude non-military aid to Ukraine altogether, another, authored by pro-Trump Republican Marjorie Taylor Green, suggests replacing all amounts in the package with zeroes, and another seeks to prevent economic aid from being spent on government salaries.

House Speaker Mike Johnson introduced the package of bills, which includes support for Ukraine, on Wednesday. It envisages allocating around US$61 billion in aid to Ukraine and allies of the US.

If passed in the House, the four bills will be sent to the Senate as a single package. Its final approval will be completed after US President Joe Biden signs it.