Senate Approves TikTok Ban, Aid Package for Israel, Ukraine

In a bipartisan vote, the U.S. Senate has approved a potential ban on popular social media app TikTok and a long-awaited foreign aid package for Israel and war-torn Ukraine.

The Senate passed the $95.3 billion bill—which also includes aid for Taiwan—by a vote of 79-18. The House on Saturday approved the bill's individual components following months of gridlock. President Joe Biden has indicated that he intends to swiftly sign the bill into law.

The Context

While the Senate initially passed a very similar version of the aid bill in February, it remained stalled in the House for months until last week, when Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced that he would allow the package to be voted on as separate bills with the TikTok ban component added. While the popular social media platform wouldn't be banned outright, the legislation forces owner ByteDance to sell or TikTok would no longer be available on U.S. app stores.

The individual components all passed with bipartisan support in the House on Saturday, setting up the second Senate vote, although some lawmakers strongly opposed aid for Ukraine or Israel from either side of the political aisle. The passage of the TikTok ban also came with bipartisan opposition, with 58 lawmakers voting against the measure.

What We Know

The bill was approved on Tuesday night with overwhelming bipartisan support. Opposition was mostly, but not entirely, Republican. Of the 18 "no" votes, 15 came from GOP senators, including Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas and J.D. Vance of Ohio.

Three progressive senators also voted against the bill, including independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Senators Peter Welch of Vermont and Jeff Merkley of Oregon. Three senators abstained from voting: Republicans Tim Scott of South Carolina, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, celebrated the legislation's passage in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"Tonight after more than six months of hard work: This Senate delivered the national security supplemental, one of the most consequential measures Congress has passed in years to protect America's security and the future of Democracy," Schumer wrote.

Newsweek reached out for comment to the White House via email on Tuesday night.

Views

In a statement emailed to Newsweek, Sanders called Tuesday "a dark day" in the Senate due to the passage of aid for Israel, which he opposes over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's continuing attack on Gaza.

"I voted no tonight on the foreign aid package for one simple reason: U.S. taxpayers should not be providing billions more to the extremist Netanyahu government to continue its devastating war against the Palestinian people," Sanders said.

He continued: "34,000 Palestinians have already been killed and 77,000 have been wounded – 70 percent of whom are women and children. Enough is enough. No more money for Netanyahu's war machine."

Cruz cited entirely different reasons, with the GOP senator saying in a statement that he "strongly" supports "military aid to Israel" and likes that "the bill forces the Chinese Communist Party to give up control of TikTok."

However, Cruz said that he but opposes humanitarian aid in Gaza that he claims would go to "terrorism" and does not support aid for Ukraine without funds going to U.S.-Mexico border security.

"Elements of the bill were too problematic for me to support the entire package," Cruz said. "The bill spends over $9 billion in so-called humanitarian aid, much of which will go to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and is sure to be diverted to fund yet more terrorism."

"Democrats desperately wanted to pass this Ukraine aid bill," he added. "I can't continue to allocate funds to secure Ukraine's border before we secure our own."

What's Next

Late on Tuesday night, Biden indicated that he would be signing the bill into law when it reaches his desk on Wednesday.

"I will sign this bill into law and address the American people as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week," the president said in a statement.

"This critical legislation will make our nation and world more secure as we support our friends who are defending themselves against terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," he added.

Biden's statement did not directly address the possible TikTok ban.

Update 4/23 /24, 11:40 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.