House to vote on government funding bill that includes nearly $14 billion in Ukraine aid

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), with Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY), holds a news conference for their Protecting Our Democracy Act to attempt to create checks and balances on presidential power, on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 9, 2021.

The U.S. House will vote Wednesday on a bill that would fund the government through September and send billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, which is facing an invasion by Russia.

A spending bill must be passed by Friday to prevent a government shutdown. To give the Senate enough time to vote on it, the House will pass a second bill.

The larger bill was crafted after weeks of talks. The debate over how much to increase spending on domestic programs and the military evolved after Russia attacked Ukraine.

The bipartisan agreement will help us address many of the major challenges we face at home and abroad, from Covid-19 to the vicious and immoral attack on Ukraine, to the need to lower costs for American families.

Both parties are expected to support the legislation. McConnell told his caucus to vote for the funding bill.

The plan is supported by the Biden administration.

Congress has used short-term spending bills to avoid shutdowns in the past. Government services can be disrupted and the economy can be damaged by funding lapse.

Both parties want to prevent a shutdown as the U.S. takes a leading role in the international effort to weaken Russia.

The U.S. strategy in Ukraine is related to the new spending bill. Aid for displaced Ukrainians, equipment for the country's military and U.S. troop deployment to neighboring nations would be funded by the $13.6 billion set aside for the conflict.

Biden's Office of Management and Budget said the money would allow the U.S. to respond quickly and efficiently to emerging and evolving needs in Ukraine, across the region, and around the world.

Defense spending is included in the bill with a total of $782 billion. Many Democrats and a few Republicans have tried to rein in military funding as the U.S. maintains its place as the biggest spender on defense in the world.

McConnell said the bill contained more defense funding than the Biden administration first proposed.

The plan would put more than 15 billion dollars into the U.S. coronaviruses response effort. Since the worst infections of the wave driven by the omicron variant have fallen in the country, additional funding would help respond to future twists in the epidemic.

The money would help the U.S. protect and treat against new variant, avoid shutdowns and fight the virus abroad.

If a new variant hits, the country will be able to maintain this new normal.

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