Biden says the US is rushing weaponry to Ukraine as he signs a $95 billion war aid measure into law

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he was immediately rushing badly needed weaponry to Ukraine as he signed into law a $95 billion war aid measure that also included assistance for Israel, Taiwan and other global hot spots.

The announcement marked an end to the long, painful battle with Republicans in Congress over urgently needed assistance for Ukraine, with Biden promising that U.S. weapons shipment would begin making the way into Ukraine “in the next few hours.”

“We rose to the moment, we came together, and we got it done," Biden said a White House event to announce the bill signing. "Now we need to move fast, and we are.”

But significant damage has been done to the Biden administration’s effort to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion during the funding impasse that dates back to August, when the Democratic president made his first emergency spending request for Ukraine. Even with a burst of new weapons and ammunition, it's unlikely Ukraine will immediately recover after months of setbacks.

Biden immediately approved sending Ukraine $1 billion in military assistance, the first installment from about $61 billion allocated for Ukraine. The package includes air defense capabilities, artillery rounds, armored vehicles and other weapons to shore up Ukrainian forces who have seen morale sink as Russian President Vladimir Putin has racked up win after win.

Meanwhile, Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials confirmed Wednesday. The U.S. is providing more of the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, in the new military package, according to one official who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Still, longer term, it remains uncertain if Ukraine, after months of losses and massive damage to its infrastructure, can make enough progress to sustain American political support before burning through the latest influx of money.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan cautioned that even as new U.S. aid flows into Ukraine, it's possible that Russia will continue to make tactical gains in the weeks ahead.

“The fact is that it’s going to take some time for us to dig out of the hole that was created by six months of delay,” he said.

Tucked into the measure is a provision that gives TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, nine months to sell it or face a nationwide prohibition in the United States. The administration and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have called the social media site a growing national security concern, which ByteDance denies.

The bill includes about $26 billion in aid for Israel and about $1 billion in humanitarian relief for Palestinians in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war continues. Biden said Israel must ensure the humanitarian aid for Palestinians in bill reaches the Hamas-controlled territory “without delay.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., delayed the aid package for months as members of his party's far right wing, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, threatened to move to oust him if he allowed a vote to send more assistance to Ukraine. Those threats persist.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has complained that European allies have not done enough for Ukraine. While the former president stopped short of endorsing the funding package, his tone has shifted in recent days, acknowledging that Ukraine's survival is important to the United States.

Many European leaders have long been nervous that a second Trump term would mean decreased U.S. support for Ukraine and NATO. The European anxiety was heightened in February when Trump in a campaign speech warned NATO allies that he “would encourage” Russia to "do whatever the hell they want” to countries that don't meet defense spending goals if he returns to the White House.

It was a key moment in the debate over Ukraine spending. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg quickly called out Trump for putting “American and European soldiers at increased risk.” But in reality, the White House maneuvering to win additional funding for Ukraine started months earlier.

Biden, the day after returning from a trip to Tel Aviv following Hamas militants' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, used a prime-time address to make his pitch for the funding.

At the time, the House was in chaos because the Republican majority had been unable to select a speaker to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who had been ousted weeks earlier at the urging of restive legislators on the right.

Far-right Republicans have adamantly opposed sending more money for Ukraine, with the war appearing to have no end in sight. Biden in August requested more than $20 billion to keep aid flowing into Ukraine, but the money was stripped out of a must-pass spending bill.

By late October, Republicans finally settled on Johnson, a low-profile Louisiana Republican whose thinking on Ukraine was opaque, to serve as the next speaker. Biden during his congratulatory call with Johnson urged him to quickly pass Ukraine aid and began a monthslong, largely behind-the-scenes effort to bring the matter to a vote.

In private conversations with Johnson, Biden and White House officials leaned into the stakes for Europe if Ukraine were to fall to Russia. On explicit orders from Biden, White House officials also avoided directly attacking Johnson over the stalled aid.

Biden praised Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying in the end they “stepped up and did the right thing.”

“History will remember this moment," he said.

At frustrating moments during the negotiations, Biden urged his aides to “just keep talking, keep working,” according to a senior administration official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal discussions.

So they did. In a daily meeting convened by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, the president's top aides would brainstorm possible ways to better make the case about Ukraine’s dire situation in the absence of aid.

The White House also sought to accommodate Johnson and his various asks. For instance, administration officials at the speaker's request briefed Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., two conservatives who were persistent antagonists of Johnson.

In public, the administration deployed a strategy of downgrading intelligence that demonstrated Russia's efforts to tighten its ties with U.S. adversaries China, North Korea and Iran to fortify Moscow's defense industrial complex and get around U.S. and European sanctions.

The $61 billion can help triage Ukrainian forces, but Kyiv will need much more for a fight that could last years, military experts say.

Realistic goals for the months ahead for Ukraine — and its allies — include avoiding the loss of major cities, slowing Russia's momentum and getting to Kyiv additional weaponry that could help them go on the offensive in 2025, said Bradley Bowman, a defense strategy and policy analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington.

“I think Ukrainian success is not guaranteed,” Bowman said, "but Russian success is if we stop supporting Ukraine."

Biden lamented that the package did not include money to bolster U.S. border security. The White House had proposed including in the package provisions it said would have helped stem the tide of migrants and asylum seekers coming to the U.S. Republicans, however, rejected the proposal at the urging of Trump, who did not want to give Biden the win on an issue that’s been an albatross for the Democratic administration.

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Haleluya Hadero, Mary Clare Jalonick and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about a $95 billion aid package that would help Ukraine in their war against Russia, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Feb. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — When Arkansas lawmakers decided five years ago to replace the statues representing the state at the U.S. Capitol, there was little objection to getting rid of the existing sculptures. The statues that had stood there for more than 100 years were obscure figures in the state's history.

“I remember giving tours to constituents from Arkansas, to young people, and I would point out the two representatives in Statuary Hall in our United States Capitol from Arkansas,” said former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who also served in Congress. “And they would say, ‘We’ve never heard of them.’”

Instead of two little-known figures from the 18th and 19th centuries, the state will soon be represented by the “Man in Black” and a woman who was instrumental in the fight over school desegregation.

Officials plan to install statues of civil rights leader Daisy Bates this week and musician Johnny Cash later this year.

Bates, who headed the state NAACP, mentored the Black students known as the Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School in 1957. She is a well-known civil rights figure in Arkansas, where a downtown street in the capital, Little Rock, is named in her honor. The state also marks Daisy Bates Day on Presidents Day.

Benjamin Victor, the Idaho sculptor who was chosen to create the statue of Bates, said he began his work by extensively studying her, including reading her 1962 autobiography and visiting her Little Rock home and Central High. He said he hopes the statue will help U.S. Capitol visitors learn more about her as well.

“I hope it really first and foremost inspires them to study Daisy Bates' life and legacy,” Victor said. “A big part of it is to capture that spirit of hers and inspire others to do the same and stand up for what’s right.”

The 8-foot tall bronze statue depicts Bates, who with her husband published the Arkansas State Press newspaper, walking with a newspaper in her arm. She holds a notebook and pen in one hand and wears a NAACP pin and rose on her lapel.

Cash was born in Kingsland, a tiny town about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Little Rock. He died in 2003 at age 71. His achievements include 90 million records sold worldwide spanning country, rock, blues, folk and gospel. He was among the few artists inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The 8-foot (2.4-meter) tall statue of Cash depicts the singer with a guitar slung across his back and a Bible in his hand. Little Rock sculptor Kevin Kresse, who was selected to create the statue, has sculpted other musical figures from Arkansas such as Al Green, Glen Campbell and Levon Helm.

Kresse views Cash as a much-needed addition to the Capitol as a counterbalance to the conflict in Congress, he said.

“He walked the walk and he lived what he believed. And that was just this quality that really appealed to me,” Kresse said. “And that interior thoughtfulness was something that I really wanted to try to bring out in this sculpture.”

The Bates and Cash statues will replace ones depicting James P. Clarke, a former governor and U.S. senator in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and Uriah Rose, a 19th century attorney. The statues had come under scrutiny, especially over racist comments Clarke made calling on the Democratic Party to preserve “white standards.”

Republican Sen. Bart Hester, a Republican who is now the Senate president pro tem, began calling for the statues to be replaced in 2018. Clarke Tucker, Clarke's great-great-grandson and a Democratic state senator, also called for his ancestor's statue to come down.

“There was recognition broadly that it was time for a change,” said Hutchinson, who signed the 2019 law requiring the Bates and Cash statues to go up.

Choosing their replacements was the hard part, with lawmakers offering competing ideas ranging from Walmart founder Sam Walton to a Navy SEAL from the state who was killed in Afghanistan. After some wrangling, lawmakers eventually approved Bates and Cash.

Sen. David Wallace, who sponsored the legislation to replace the previous sculptures, said he hoped the new statues would tell people more about the types of figures Arkansas has produced over the years.

“We wanted to do the common person that represented Arkansas,” Wallace said. “And I think that with Daisy Bates and with Johnny Cash, we covered the spectrum in Arkansas. Just, they represent the common folks of Arkansas.”

Associated Press reporter Mike Pesoli contributed to this report.

Arkansas State Sen. David Wallace holds a small-scale statue of Johnny Cash, on April 23, 2024, in Little Rock, Ark. Artist Kevin Kresse's full sculpture of Cash will be unveiled at the U.S Capitol as part of the Statuary Hall collection, later this year. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson holds a small-scale statue of Johnny Cash, on April 23, 2024, in Little Rock, Ark. Artist Kevin Kresse's full sculpture of Cash will be unveiled at the U.S. Capitol as part of the Statuary Hall collection, later this year. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)

Artist Kevin Kresse, works on a clay bust of Johnny Cash, April 23, 2024 in Little Rock, Ark. Kresse's full sculpture of Cash will be unveiled at the U.S. Capitol as part of the Statuary Hall collection, later this year. (AP Photo/Mike Pesoli)

Artist Kevin Kresse, works on a clay bust of Johnny Cash, April 23, 2024 in Little Rock, Ark. Kresse's full sculpture of Cash will be unveiled at the U.S. Capitol as part of the Statuary Hall collection, later this year. (AP Photo/Mike Pesoli)

Benjamin Victor works on his sculpture of Daisy Gatson Bates at the Windgate Center of Art and Design at the The University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus on Monday, April 25, 2022, in Little Rock, Ark. The statue will be placed in the Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol when it is completed. (Stephen Swofford/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)

Artist Kevin Kresse, is shown with a clay bust of Johnny Cash, April 23, 2024 in Little Rock, Ark. Kresse's full sculpture of Cash will be unveiled at the U.S. Capitol as part of the Statuary Hall collection, later this year. (AP Photo/Mike Pesoli)