Look Ahead to the Week of April 22: Senate Cancels Recess
The House is out, but the Senate will be in session this week after canceling its recess to vote on supplemental foreign aid legislation.
Over the weekend, the House passed a package of aid bills totaling $95 billion after months of negotiations. The legislation now moves to the Senate, with plans for the upper chamber to vote on Tuesday. The package will provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Specifically, it will transmit:
- $60.8 billion to Ukraine
- $26.4 billion to Israel
- $8.1 billion to Indo-Pacific allies to counter China
The package also includes humanitarian assistance for Gaza; requires ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to divest its ownership of the app within a year; imposes new sanctions on Iran; utilizes seized Russian assets to partially offset the cost of aid to Ukraine; and prohibits data brokers from selling sensitive U.S. information to countries of concern. The legislation has the same topline funding as the bipartisan aid package that passed the Senate months ago, which suggests the new legislation may move quickly through the upper chamber and to the President’s desk.
The Senate also passed late Friday a House-passed bill reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for two years, which proved contentious given concerns over the controversial spying and intelligence program.
Administration
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden will travel to Tampa, Florida, for campaign events. He will attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.