The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Foreign Aid Act, who is the real winner?
On April 20, local time, the House of Representatives of the United States Congress voted to pass a foreign aid bill worth $95 billion. These include about $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, more than $26 billion to Israel, and more than $8 billion in the Indo-Pacific Security Supplementary Appropriations Act of 2024 for "Indo-Pacific security."
This bill is down, who is the biggest beneficiary, and who is the biggest winner. Among them, the most discussed is Ukraine, and many people are discussing how the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield will change after Ukraine gets this money. Let's see who is the biggest beneficiary and who is the biggest winner.
On the news, there are three areas of gratitude to the United States.
The first thing to see is the thanks of Zelensky from Ukraine. Zelenskyy wrote in a social media post later that day: "I thank the U.S. House of Representatives, both parties, and Speaker Mike Johnson for their decision to put history on the right track." We hope these bills will be supported in the Senate and sent to President Biden's desk. Thank you, United States. ”
Similarly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on social media. "The bill demonstrates strong bipartisan support for Israel and the defense of Western civilization in the United States," he wrote. Thank you, friends, and thank you America. ”
In fact, it is not only Ukraine and Israel that express gratitude, but also the Taiwan region. Taiwan's foreign affairs department expressed its "gratitude" to the US side for passing the above proposal on the 21st. On the same day, Taiwan's defense department also declared: "The United States' assistance to the Taiwan region fully demonstrates the 'rock-solid support' of the United States for the Taiwan region." ”
In general, whoever benefits will be grateful. Ukraine has got the lion's share, and of course it will be grateful, especially when the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield is now under great pressure, and it is not too much to use the words "grateful". Netanyahu also expressed his gratitude, but it was far less grateful than Zelensky, because in Israel's opinion, you should give me this money.
Compared with Ukraine and Israel, the Taiwan region has received a fraction of the fraction. Of the $8.12 billion 2024 Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental Appropriation, $3.3 billion will be used to develop U.S. submarine infrastructure, $2 billion will be used to provide foreign military financing to Taiwan and other major allies, and $1.9 billion will be used to supplement defense goods and services provided by the Pentagon to regional partners such as Taiwan.
Supposedly, whoever benefits is grateful, this is the general idea. The biggest beneficiary should be Ukraine, which gets a lot of money. But is Ukraine the biggest beneficiary? Is it the biggest winner? Actually, we can't simply look at this issue. Looking at this problem now, how should we look at it?
First of all, let's take a look at what time it is. It is an election year in the United States, and all actions in the United States must be seen in the context of the election year in the United States. Biden has long proposed more than $60 billion in aid funds to Ukraine, but why has it not been passed? The Republicans tied the money to the funding for the border issue, because the Democrats didn't want to pass the funding for the border issue, and to put it bluntly, they were competing with the Republicans, so the funding was shelved.
Later, there was a Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and it was time to provide support to Israel. In fact, there is no major contradiction between the two parties in providing support to Israel, but in order to solve the problem of funding aid to Ukraine, aid to Israel has also been bundled. And so on and so forth, and in the end we saw that the bill passed, but it did not include a grant to deal with the border issue.
In the aid allocation for Ukraine, which is the most contradictory between the two sides, in the end, all the Democrats voted in favor, and nearly half of the Republican congressmen also voted in favor. In this way, the bill was finally passed.
The ultimate winner of this bill is not Ukraine, not Israel, and not Taiwan. The ultimate winner is the incumbent US President Joe Biden and his Democratic Party.
In fact, just entering the election year, the two parties in the United States are already fighting in full swing. We saw that in the election of the recommended candidates at the beginning of the year, Trump had a smooth ride. Trump is very good at building momentum, and in the beginning, Trump was very powerful, and in contrast, Biden was clearly at a disadvantage.
In the US election, will Biden be willing to admit defeat? Of course not. Biden is the current president, and he wants to make full use of the power in his hands to show the United States that he is capable of governing. And during his administration, the biggest problems encountered were all involved in this bill. The first is the issue of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the second is the issue of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and there is another long-term issue that both parties in the United States believe to be the biggest and most thorny, that is, the problem of containing China.
Now that this bill has passed in the House of Representatives, there should not be much obstacle behind it. In other words, Biden has made progress and gotten money in advancing the resolution of the three major directions, which is the most critical. Nothing can be done without money, and with money, Biden can show his ability to govern.
The Russian side is very mean about its aid to Ukraine, but it is also very practical. Russia said that this money to Ukraine will not allow Ukraine to defeat Russia, but it can only ensure that Ukraine will not collapse before November this year. November is the time to vote in the U.S. election, and the Ukraine crisis is a major event during Biden's tenure. If the situation in Ukraine collapses before this round of elections, Biden's next election will be completely out of play. Therefore, the appropriation of aid to Ukraine passed, which is a big victory for Biden.
As for aid to Israel, too, with money, aid is not just a matter of vetoing the UN and siding with Israel, but with real money. As for China, the United States is focusing on the so-called long-term construction of the Asia-Pacific region, including the so-called "military aid" to the Taiwan region. Therefore, the passage of this bill allowed Biden to exert force in three directions at the same time, obtained a material foundation, and with money, he could do things next.
The biggest winner and biggest beneficiary of this bill in the House of Representatives is not Ukraine, not Israel, and not China's Taiwan region. The biggest winner and biggest beneficiary is Biden, Biden's Democratic Party. Speaking of which, it comes down to an election year when the two parties fight each other. In this round, it seems, Trump lost a move. Of course, Trump will not be reconciled, and we can wait and see what flowers will be played next.