Washington:

U.S. House lawmakers on Saturday quickly passed two key aid bills to counter China and support Taiwan, while also threatening a ban on TikTok if it does not divest from Beijing.

Votes on major bills on Ukraine and Israel are yet to come.

Lawmakers began voting on a foreign aid and weapons bill totaling about $95 billion at 1:00 pm (1700 GMT), with embattled Republican Speaker Mike Johnson forced to rely on Democratic votes to pass it.

The bills are the culmination of months of intense negotiations, pressure from U.S. allies and repeated requests for aid from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The spending bill cost the last Republican House speaker his job, and funding for Ukraine has been at the center of partisan bickering.

At President Joe Biden’s request, about $8 billion will be spent to counter China by investing in submarine infrastructure and building projects in developing countries to step up competition with Beijing.

Billions of dollars will be spent on weapons purchases for Taiwan, the self-governing island claimed by China.

Another provision would force TikTok to spin off from its Chinese parent ByteDance or face a nationwide ban in the United States, which has about 170 million users.

Western officials have sounded alarm over TikTok’s popularity among young people, claiming it is subservient to Beijing and a conduit for spreading propaganda – a claim the company denies.

The White House said it “strongly supports” the legislation in a statement Friday.

The United States has been Ukraine’s main military backer in its war with Russia, but Congress has not approved large-scale funding for its ally for nearly a year and a half, largely because of bickering across the political spectrum.

President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have been pushing for months to develop a major new weapons program for Ukraine.

But Republicans, influenced by the party’s presidential candidate, Donald Trump, are reluctant to fund the protracted conflict in Kiev.

Financing of the war has become a point of contention ahead of November’s presidential election, in which Biden is expected to face off against Trump again.

After months of hesitation, Johnson ultimately backed a $61 billion package for Ukraine that included economic aid and weapons.

The bill also allows Biden to seize and sell Russian assets and provide money to Ukraine to fund reconstruction, a move backed by other G7 countries.

“Quite frankly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than to American boys,” Johnson said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the upper chamber could take up the bill as early as Tuesday if it passes the House.

A total of $13 billion in military aid has been allocated to Israel, a historic U.S. ally, in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

The money will be used primarily to strengthen Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system.

The legislation says more than $9 billion will be earmarked to address the “urgent humanitarian assistance needs of Gaza and other vulnerable populations around the world.”

The White House said earlier that “the world is watching what Congress does,” adding that Biden would sign the bills as soon as both houses of Congress pass them.

U.S. allies are expected to enthusiastically welcome the House’s passage of the bills, but it could cost the Republican House speaker his job.

Some far-right isolationist Republican lawmakers have warned they could oust Johnson for supporting the bills.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)