Copyright: Reuters
Members will soon vote on the mixed bag of measures, which includes a crackdown on TikTok in the US.
But how did a bill to force the sale of TikTok get looped in to a House foreign aid package?
There’s an old saying that legislation, like sausage, is something you shouldn’t watch being made.
In Saturday’s legislative sausage-making, the three key foreign aid components – military support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan – are mixed in with a grab bag of other items, including a provision allowing for the confiscation of Russian assets, new sanctions on Iran, Russia and China and the TikTok measure.
The move is designed to provide a bit of a “sweetener” for members of the House who might otherwise be inclined to vote against the package.
It’s also a convenient way of forcing the Senate’s hand.
Two months ago, a large House majority passed a stand-alone measure to require the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok. That legislation has languished in the Senate since then.
By including the TikTok provision in this aid package, senators who urgently want to provide Ukraine and Israel with aid will have no choice but to also swallow the TikTok ban.
Senators may prefer a different flavour of sausage, but that’s the only one the House is serving on Saturday.