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Congressional leaders unveiled a $1.7 trillion spending package early Tuesday that includes another large round of aid to Ukraine, a nearly 10% boost in defense spending and roughly $40 billon to assist communities across the country recovering from drought, hurricanes and other natural disasters.
The bill includes about $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs and $858 billion in defense funding.
Lawmakers are working to stuff in as many priorities as they can into what is likely to be the last major bill of the current Congress. They are racing to complete passage of the bill before a midnight Friday deadline or face the prospect of a partial government shutdown going into the Christmas holiday. Lawmakers leading the negotiations released the details of the bill shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday.
The U.S. has provided about $68 billion in previous rounds of military, economic and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine. President Joe Biden has requested more than $37 billion more. Congress is going further with Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, saying the spending package includes about $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine.
“Finalizing the omnibus is critical, absolutely critical for supporting our friends in Ukraine,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Republican leader Mitch McConnell has warned that if the fiscal year 2023 spending measure fails to gain bipartisan support this week, he would seek another short-term patch into next year, guaranteeing that the new Republican majority in the House would get to shape the package.
