U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday signed off on a $1.7 trillion spending invoice that can maintain the federal government funded by the subsequent fiscal yr – notably together with one other massive package deal for Ukraine’s battle effort.
Biden, vacationing over the New Year’s vacation on Saint Croix within the U.S. Virgin Islands, tweeted an image of himself signing the invoice into legislation.
“It’ll invest in medical research, safety, veteran health care, disaster recovery,” and funding for applications combating violence towards ladies, Biden tweeted. It additionally “gets crucial assistance to Ukraine. Looking forward to more in 2023.”
The funding invoice gained Republican assist within the evenly divided Congress, making certain straightforward passage – and notching up one other legislative win for Biden as he ends his second yr in workplace. Even critics have expressed grudging admiration for the Biden administration’s capacity to get outcomes because the 80-year-old Democrat closes in on a call over whether or not to hunt one other time period in 2024.
The invoice contains $45 billion within the emergency navy and financial assist for Ukraine, which is battling a full-scale Russian invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Washington earlier this month to plead for elevated U.S. help.
The invoice additionally options add-ons, resembling a reform tightening a Nineteenth-century legislation to make clear that vice presidents wouldn’t have the facility to overturn election outcomes. That is meant to forestall any repetition of Donald Trump’s chaotic gambit to keep away from conceding defeat to Biden within the 2020 presidential election – together with by attempting to coerce his vp, Mike Pence, to halt certification of Biden’s win.
