On the 20th, the U.S. Senate passed a revision to an agricultural bill, enhancing official conditions placed on the giving of humanitarian food aid to North Korea.

The revision, which passed on the 20th, stops North Korea from receiving aid under the “Food for Peace Act” unless the president issues a waiver in the national interest. It was submitted by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), and passed by 59 to 40. A competing bill that would have prohibited food aid altogether failed by 43 to 56.

The bill now has to pass the House of Representatives, and if passed becomes effective immediately.