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Associated Press

US President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a US$1.7 trillion spending bill that will keep the federal government operating until the end of the federal budget year in September 2023, and provide tens of billions of dollars in new aid to Ukraine for its fight against the Russian military.
Biden had until late on Friday to sign the bill to avoid a partial government shutdown.
The Democratic-controlled House passed the bill 225-201, mostly along party lines, just before Christmas. The House vote came a day after the Senate, also led by Democrats, voted 68-29 to pass the bill with significantly more Republican support.
Biden had said passage was proof that Republicans and Democrats can work together.
Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader who hopes to become speaker when a new session Congress opens on January 3, argued during floor debate that the bill spends too much and does too little to curb illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl into the US from Mexico.
“This is a monstrosity that is one of the most shameful acts I’ve ever seen in this body,” McCarthy said of the legislation.
Ukraine’s Zelensky delivers Congress speech, meets Biden in wartime visit to US
McCarthy is appealing for support from staunch conservatives in the Republican Party caucus, who have largely blasted the bill for its size and scope. Republicans will have a narrow House majority come January 3 and several conservative members have vowed not to vote for McCarthy to become speaker.
The funding bill includes a roughly 6 per cent increase in spending for domestic initiatives, to US$772.5 billion. Spending on defence programmes will increase by about 10 per cent, to US$858 billion.
Passage was achieved hours before financing for federal agencies was set to expire. Lawmakers had approved two short-term spending measures to keep the government operating, and a third, funding the government until December 30, passed last Friday.
Biden signed it to ensure services would continue until Congress sent him the full-year measure, called an omnibus bill.
The massive bill, which topped out at more than 4,000 pages, wraps together 12 appropriations bills, aid to Ukraine and disaster relief for communities recovering from natural disasters. It also contains scores of policy changes that lawmakers worked to include in the final major bill considered by that session of Congress.
Lawmakers provided roughly US$45 billion for Ukraine and Nato allies, more than even Biden had requested, an acknowledgement that future rounds of funding are not guaranteed when Republicans take control of the House next week following the party’s gains in the midterm elections.


Though support for Ukraine aid has largely been bipartisan, some House Republicans have opposed the spending and argued that the money would be better spent on priorities in the United States.
McCarthy has warned that Republicans will not write a “blank check” for Ukraine in the future.
The bill also includes about US$40 billion in emergency spending, mostly to help communities across the US as they recover from drought, hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Biden signed the bill Thursday in the US Virgin Islands, where he is spending time with his wife, Jill, and other family members on the island of Saint Croix.
The Bidens are staying at the home of friends Bill and Connie Neville, the White House said. Bill Neville owns US Viking, maker of ENPS, a news production software system that is sold by the Associated Press.
Also in the bill are scores of policy changes that are largely unrelated to spending, but lawmakers worked furiously behind the scenes to get the added to the bill, which was the final piece of legislation that came out of that session of Congress.

Otherwise, lawmakers sponsoring these changes would have had to start from scratch next year in a politically divided Congress in which Republicans will return to the majority in the House and Democrats will continue to control the Senate.
One of the most notable examples was a historic revision to federal election law to prevent a future president or presidential candidate from trying to overturn an election.
The bipartisan overhaul of the Electoral Count Act is a direct response to-then President Donald Trump’s efforts to persuade Republican lawmakers and then Vice-President Mike Pence to object to the certification of Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021, the day of the Trump-inspired insurrection at the Capitol.
US Supreme Court keeps controversial Trump-era border policy in place
Among the spending increases Democrats emphasised: a US$500 increase in the maximum size of Pell grants for low-income college students, a US$100 million increase in block grants to states for substance abuse prevention and treatment programmes, a 22 per cent increase in spending on veterans’ medical care and US$3.7 billion in emergency relief to farmers and ranchers hit by natural disasters.
The bill also provides roughly US$15.3 billion for more than 7,200 projects that lawmakers sought for their home states and districts.
Under revamped rules for community project funding, also referred to as earmarks, lawmakers must post their requests online and attest they have no financial interest in the projects. Still, many fiscal conservatives criticise the earmarking as leading to unnecessary spending.
Additional reporting by Blooomberg


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Joe Biden

Joe Biden signs US$1.7 trillion government spending bill that includes Ukraine aid

US President Joe Biden. Photo: AP

Biden signed the bill in the US Virgin Islands, where he is spending time with his wife, Jill, and other family members on the island of Saint Croix. Photo: AP

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Ukraine’s Zelensky delivers historic speech to Congress, meets Biden in wartime visit to US

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks after giving a Ukrainian national flag to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and US Vice-President Kamala Harris during his address to the US Congress. Photo: AFP

US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after addressing a joint meeting of Congress. Photo: AP

Ukraine’s Zelensky to meet Biden at White House, in first trip abroad since war with Russia began

Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut give President Volodymyr Zelensky a Ukrainian flag for US President Joe Biden. Photo: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, centre, poses for photo with soldiers at the site of the heaviest battles in Bakhmut, Ukraine. Photo: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting Belarus on Monday, where he met ally Alexander Lukashenko. Photo: TNS

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Spending bill will keep the US government funded through the next financial year
It notably includes another big package for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia



The bill will provide tens of billions of dollars in new aid to Ukraine for its fight against the Russian military and will keep the federal government operating until September 2023.


Joe Biden signs US$1.7 trillion government spending bill that includes Ukraine aid

Spending bill will keep the US government funded through the next financial year It notably includes another big package for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia

Spending bill will keep the US government funded through the next financial year

It notably includes another big package for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia