The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday night to give final approval to a $95.3 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending it to President Joe Biden and ending months of uncertainty about whether the US would continue to back Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.

The vote reflected resounding bipartisan support for the measure, which passed the House on Saturday by lopsided margins after a tortured journey on Capitol Hill, where it was nearly derailed by Right-wing resistance. The Senate’s action, on a vote of 79-18, provided a victory for the President, who had urged lawmakers to move quickly.

It capped an extraordinary political saga that raised questions about whether the US would continue to play a leading role in upholding the international order and projecting its values globally.

In a statement minutes after the vote, Biden said he would sign the bill into law “as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week”.

The House passed the package on Saturday in four pieces: a measure for each of the three US allies and another meant to sweeten the deal for conservatives that includes a provision that could result in a nationwide ban of TikTok. It sent the legislation to the Senate as a single package that required only one up-or-down vote to pass.

Facing vehement Opposition from his right flank to aiding Ukraine, Speaker Mike Johnson structured the legislation that way in the House to capture different coalitions of support without allowing opposition to any one element to defeat the whole thing. The majority of House Republicans opposed the aid for Ukraine.

The components of the bill are nearly identical to one that passed the Senate with bipartisan support in February. It includes $60.8 billion for Ukraine; $26.4 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including the Gaza Strip; and $8.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific region.

In addition to the package of sweeteners, which also includes new rounds of sanctions on Iranian and Russian officials, the House added provisions to direct the president to seek repayment from the Ukrainian government of $10 billion in economic assistance.

In an interview with The Associated Press shortly before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that if Congress had not passed the aid, “America would have paid a price economically, politically, militarily.”

“Very few things we have done have risen to this level of historic importance,” he said.

On the Senate floor, Schumer said the Senate was sending a message to US allies: “We will stand with you.”

Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made passage of the legislation a top priority, agreeing to tie Ukraine and Israel aid to help ensure passage and arguing there could be dire consequences for the US and many of its global allies if Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression is left unchecked. They worked with House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, to overcome seemingly intractable Republican Opposition to the Ukraine aid.

McConnell said in a separate interview before the vote that it “is one of the biggest days in the time that I have been here”.

New York Times News Service and AP/PTI