US Senate passes $1.7 trillion spending bill

The US Senate on December 22 approved a roughly $1.7 trillion spending package that would fund the federal government into next fall and send another round of financial assistance to Kyiv, a day after lawmakers welcomed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine to Capitol Hill, Report informs referring to The New York Times.

Approval of the sprawling package came less than three days after it was unveiled, as lawmakers raced to avert a government shutdown and codify dozens of fiscal and legislative priorities. Zelenskyy’s daring decision to visit Washington intensified the pressure to act on the measure, which includes nearly $50 billion in assistance to Ukraine.

The Senate voted 68 to 29 to send the legislation to the House, which is set to take it up on December 23. Once it passes the House, President Biden is expected to sign the measure.

The bill, which funds the government through the end of September, substantially increases spending and provides $858 billion in military funding and more than $772 billion for domestic programs. To win the Republican votes needed for the measure to pass the Senate, Democrats agreed to a higher overall increase for military and defense programs compared with the health care, education and veterans affairs policies they champion.

The package includes a bipartisan overhaul of the 135-year-old law that former President Donald J. Trump and his allies sought to exploit in an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 election. It contains about $40 billion in emergency aid for communities recovering from disasters, a ban on the Chinese-owned app TikTok on government devices and a collection of new rules intended to help many Americans trying to save and pay for retirement.

Senators also approved an amendment that would allow the administration to sell the seized assets of Russian oligarchs and put the money toward rebuilding in Ukraine.

They also agreed to include legislation that would make it federal law to guarantee protections and accommodations for pregnant workers and a measure that would require breastfeeding accommodations in the workplace.

The legislation would provide spending for America’s battlefields, including $15.6 billion for weapons and munitions, many for the war in Ukraine or to replenish Pentagon stockpiles. It also allocates $4.5 billion to develop and field hypersonic weapons and related advanced technology, an area in which some experts say the United States is lagging behind rivals like China.