The stopgap spending measure was the final legislative deadline facing the Senate before the midterm elections. It heads to the House next, with a midnight deadline on Friday.
-
Send any friend a story
As a subscriber, you have “>10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.
Give this articleGive this articleGive this article
The Senate passed the spending bill after Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, agreed to leave out an energy infrastructure permitting measure.
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved a temporary spending package to keep the government funded past a Friday deadline and send another significant round of emergency aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, punting negotiations on a longer-term funding measure until after the November elections.
The legislation, which would extend government funding through Dec. 16, passed 72 to 25. That sent it to the House, which was expected to quickly pass the measure, sending it to President Biden for his signature before funding was scheduled to lapse at midnight Sept. 30.
In addition to continuing government spending for several weeks, the measure would provide about $12.3 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine as it fights to continue reclaiming territory from Russia.
It sailed through the Senate with few objections, after Democrats removed an energy permitting measure by Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, who had initially insisted upon its inclusion after being promised it would receive a vote in exchange for his support last month for the party’s major climate, health and tax package.
The proposal, which would make it easier to build solar, wind, oil and gas infrastructure, had rankled members of both parties, and Mr. Manchin agreed to remove it on Tuesday, as it threatened to derail the spending package and prompt a government shutdown at the end of the week.
Read More on the Coronavirus Pandemic
- A Persistent Variant: Ten months have passed since Omicron’s debut. Since then it has displayed a remarkable capacity to evolve new tricks.
- A Blunted Response: Major data gaps, the result of decades of underinvestment in public health, have undercut the U.S. government’s response to Covid — and now to monkeypox.
- Biden’s Comments: In an interview that aired on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” President Biden said that “the pandemic is over.” But 400 to 500 Americans are still dying every day of Covid-19.
- Menstrual Cycle: A new study adds to a growing body of research suggesting that the Covid vaccine can indeed affect the length of a person’s menstrual cycle.
“The last thing the American people need now is a pointless government shutdown,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said in a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote. “I’m optimistic we’re on track to avoiding one well before the funding deadline.”
The tranche of aid for Ukraine comes after Congress has already approved about $54 billion in two previous packages. When it is enacted, the investment in Ukraine will be the highest amount of military aid the United States has committed to any country in a single year in nearly half a century, since the Vietnam War.
It would provide $4.5 billion for a fund dedicated to supporting the Ukrainian government, and $3 billion for weapons, equipment and other military support. It also would provide $1.5 billion to replenish American weapons already sent to Ukraine, and $2.8 billion for the Defense Department. And it would allow Mr. Biden to authorize the transfer of up to $3.7 billion of American weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
“Assisting Ukraine is not some feel-good, symbolic gesture — it’s literally an investment in our own national security and that of our allies,” said Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, in a speech urging support for the package.
Lawmakers also agreed to address some domestic needs, including ensuring the continuation of a “user fee” agreement that supplements a significant portion of the Food and Drug Administration’s budget. It also would allow more flexibility for the federal government to spend existing disaster relief funds and provide $20 million to help address the water crisis in Jackson, Miss., and $2 billion in grant funding for rebuilding efforts after natural disasters in 2021 and 2022.
ImageThe spending bill would provide millions of dollars to help address the water crisis in Jackson, Miss.Credit…Brad Vest/Getty Images
The administration’s announcement on Thursday morning that it would provide more federal assistance and expand a disaster declaration for western Alaska, where a powerful storm pummeled several communities, helped resolve a last-minute objection from that state’s delegation. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, Republicans of Alaska, had lobbied the administration for the expansion, particularly after a similar request was fulfilled for Puerto Rico.
The measure also includes $1 billion for a program championed by Democrats to help lower-income families handle higher energy and heating costs in the coming winter.
But party leaders, confronting Republican opposition, dropped other Democratic priorities from the package, including the Biden administration’s request for billions of dollars in emergency funds to combat the coronavirus pandemic and the spread of monkeypox across the country.
Democrats have struggled to pass another round of pandemic aid money since it was abruptly dropped from a sprawling government funding package in March, as Republicans balked at the inclusion of any new federal money to address the coronavirus crisis.
“I will keep fighting for these important resources,” Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Democrat and the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, vowed in a statement, adding that he would continue to push for an annual omnibus package. “The federal government funds programs that the American people rely on, and we should do the job they sent us here to do,” he added.
Passage of the stopgap spending bill was the final legislative deadline facing the Senate before its members scatter ahead of the midterm elections, and senators swiftly began departing Washington after casting their votes. But the action set up a daunting to-do list for after the November balloting. Senators will have to wrangle the dozen annual spending bills — and another round of earmarked projects for their states — before several senior lawmakers, including Mr. Leahy, retire at the end of the year.
“I think both sides — at least the overwhelming majority of the Democrats and Republicans — would like to fund the government, do their job,” said Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, who is retiring. “There’s always some that say, ‘Let’s kick it to next year.’ I said that’s nonsense.”
Mr. Manchin and other senators have pushed to revisit his plan to streamline the construction of energy infrastructure across the country in the coming weeks. Senators will also have to address the annual military policy bill, as well as ambitions to vote to codify same-sex marriage protections and strengthen the Electoral Count Act and the nation’s democratic systems in response to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Source: nytimes.com
