Following its passage in the House on Saturday and then the Senate on Tuesday evening, the much-debated measure approving foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan and forcing social media app TikTok's Chinese owner to divest from it was signed into law by President Joe Biden Wednesday morning.
🚨 The Senate has voted 79-18 to divest TikTok from CCP control.
— Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (@committeeonccp) April 24, 2024
Onto @POTUS’ desk ✍️ pic.twitter.com/iTJpXCJAGd
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Biden delivered remarks in connection with the signing.
Wearing a US-Ukrainian flag pin and speaking from the White House after signing the bill on Wednesday, Biden said it was a “good day for America, a good day for Ukraine and a good day for world peace.”
The aid package, Biden said, is “going to make America safer. It’s going to make the world safer. And it continues America’s leadership in the world.”
While much of the focus ahead of the bill's passage (and in Biden's accompanying remarks) centered on Ukraine aid, questions swirl as to the effect of its passage on the TikTok app.
The short answer to that is that little will happen immediately, both due to the timeline included within the measure and the likely legal challenges it will face.
Up to one year to sell
Here’s the first reason why the app won’t be going away anytime soon in the U.S.: The measure gives ByteDance nine months to sell, and three more if a sale is underway.
If this doesn’t happen, that’s when TikTok will be banned.
Likely court challenges
The second reason is that TikTok, which has long denied it’s a security threat, is also preparing a lawsuit to block the legislation.
With court challenges, the time before the ban could be implemented could stretch even longer than the year needed to switch owners.
And the First Amendment in America is fairly strong, so a ban may not be as straightforward as it seems after all.
On the other hand, the Ukraine funding will be happening in short order.
The bill’s effects will be felt most quickly and acutely on battlefields in Ukraine, whose soldiers have faced ammunition shortages and battlefield losses in the absence of US assistance this year.
Biden said the shipments of military supplies to Ukraine will begin “in the next few hours,” and would include air-defense equipment and munitions for artillery and rocket systems, along with armored vehicles.
The Pentagon announced a $1 billion aid package would go to Ukraine just moments after Biden signed the bill into law.
Among the capabilities included in the new package is ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), artillery rounds, RIM-7 and AIM-9M air defense missiles, Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and more. It also includes various logistics and tactical vehicles, anti-armor systems, training munitions and spare parts, and small arms ammunition including .50 caliber rounds to counter drones.
Congress is currently on a break, but upon return, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will be faced with the fallout of his efforts to secure the measure's passage, including the motion to vacate filed by fellow Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA).
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