rollcall | House passes $95.3B aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, 20 Apr

The $95.3 billion supplemental spending measure passed under an unusual procedure in which lawmakers voted on four separate bills that were then put together into one vehicle, replacing the text of a similar Senate-passed bill that came over from that chamber two months ago.

$60.8 billion for Ukraine [ROLL CALL 311-112]
$26.4 billion "to Israel and humanitarian aid [$9.2B] to Gaza" [ROLL CALL 366-58]
$8.1 billion "to help Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific allies" [ROLL CALL 385-34]

Lastly, the House voted 360-58 to pass a "sidecar" package consisting of some measures related to the foreign aid bills, such as authorizing the seizure of about $5 billion in frozen Russian assets for distribution to Ukraine and toughening sanctions on Russia, Iran and China.

H.R.8038, 21st Century Peace through Strength Act [ROLL CALL 360-58]

That measure would also force the divestiture [sic] of Chinese-owned TikTok or the social media app would be banned in the U.S., and ban data brokers from selling Americans' personal information to countries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea or organizations controlled by those governments.

cnn | House passes REPO act that includes hostile TikTok take-over, 19 Apr

Here's what the bill would do:
• Place sanctions on ports and refineries that receive and process Iranian oil.
• Place sanctions on anyone involved in activity covered under the UN missile embargo on Iran that lapsed last year or in the supply or sale of Iran's missiles and drones.
• Further restrict the export of goods and technology of US origin to Iran.
• Empower the executive branch to seize and transfer frozen Russian assets held in the US to Ukraine.
• Give TikTok's Chinese parent, ByteDance, nine months to sell the social media company or it would be banned from US app stores.

< wipes tears >
thehill | Strategic intimacy: US seeks face-to-face rivalry with China, 20 Apr

...Secretary of Stalking Antony Blinken's trip to Beijing this coming week will spotlight how this strategy is holding firm almost five months later, despite unresolved issues and global conflicts threatening to break the relationship apart at any moment.

"We believe that intense competition requires intense diplomacy on a range of issues, and in-depth, face-to-face diplomacy is particularly important to managing tensions," a senior administration official told reporters in a call Friday, previewing Blinken's trip.

"The Secretary will make clear that the United States intends to responsibly manage our competition with the PRC [People's Republic of China]." ...

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