President Joe Biden signed measures on Wednesday to provide aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan and force Chinese TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a nationwide ban.
Biden’s official endorsement ends a six-month saga of tense political battles on Capitol Hill that led to a stalemate over foreign aid.
“Getting to my desk was a difficult journey. It should have been easier and got there sooner,” Biden said Wednesday after signing the bill. “But in the end, we did what America always does: we rose to the moment.”
Biden had signaled his intention to sign the bill after the House of Representatives passed the proposal on Saturday. The Senate gave its own green light late Tuesday night by a mostly bipartisan vote of 79-18, sending it to Biden’s desk for his signature.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks after signing the foreign aid bill at the White House on April 24, 2024 in Washington, DC
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
The bill provides about $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and $8 billion for security in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. ByteDance is also required to sell TikTok within nine months – or a year if Biden takes a 90-day extension – or face a nationwide ban in the US
TikTok has already promised to take action against the measure.
“This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court,” the company wrote in a statement Wednesday on X following Biden’s signing.
“This ban would destroy seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans,” the company added in its statement.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew posted a video response to the passage of the TikTok law, calling it a “disappointing moment” and reiterating the company’s resolve to challenge it.
Despite Biden’s official support of the TikTok law, his 2024 re-election campaign told NBC News on Wednesday that he would continue to use the social media platform to reach voters for at least the next year. Notably, the nine-month to one-year deadline allows ByteDance to retain ownership of TikTok until the November election.
Along with the opposition to TikTok, the bill has been the subject of heated political attacks, including threats to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from hardline Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
Those threats were one of the reasons Johnson cut off foreign aid even after the Senate passed a similar $95 billion version of the bill to fund Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in February. However, this bill did not include the TikTok provisions.
But last week, with that mistake still looming, Johnson moved to end the House standoff on foreign aid after Iran launched an attack on Israel on April 13, sparking new bipartisan pressure on the U.S. to reach out to its allies help.
In the following days, Johnson submitted four separate bills to the House for a vote, three of which would provide foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and a fourth that would include other foreign policy proposals such as the TikTok bill.
Although Johnson’s move came with professional risks, the speaker has so far stuck with it, helped by the public support of former President Donald Trump.
“I know history will judge this well,” Johnson said Wednesday morning in a radio interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.” “It was the right thing to do.”
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2024-04-24 16:49:34
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