U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) addresses reporters during a news conference on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 29, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed 225 to 201 a $1.7 trillion bill to fund the federal government for the remaining of the fiscal yr, just in time to beat the midnight deadline to avoid a partial shutdown of federal agencies.
Overall, the laws provides $772.5 billion for nondefense discretionary programs, and $858 billion in defense funding, in line with a summary released earlier this week by a Senate committee. The figures represent around a 5% increase in nondefense spending, and an 8% hike for the Pentagon and national defense.
The funding measure passed the U.S. Senate on Thursday by a vote of 68-29. Now that it has been approved by the House, the bill goes to President Joe Biden, who has said he’s desperate to sign it into law.
The omnibus laws’s approval within the House and Senate represents the newest bipartisan win for Biden, who has notched various legislative victories within the last yr on bills that passed with each Republican and Democratic support.
It is usually the ultimate major achievement in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s speakership. The California Democrat plans to step down from leadership in the following Congress. By passing the federal spending package when she did, Pelosi ensured that government funding levels can be set in stone while Democrats still controlled the House. On Jan. 3, Republicans will take over the chamber.
These guaranteed funding levels include $44.9 billion in military, humanitarian and economic aid for Ukraine. That total includes money to replenish Pentagon stockpiles of weapons the U.S. sent to Ukraine, together with additional aid for NATO allies.
The House vote got here just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington and delivered a historic speech Wednesday to a special joint meeting of Congress. Wearing military fatigues and boots, he urged lawmakers to maintain funding his country’s “war of independence” against invading Russian forces.
Along with the Ukraine assistance, the bill provides $40 billion in recent funding for states and tribal reservations to assist communities get well from natural disasters, similar to wildfires and major storms. It also bans using Tik Tok on government devices, includes $1 billion in aid to poor countries battling climate change and makes it easier for Americans saving for retirement.
It also accommodates several recent amendments that were approved by the Senate on Thursday. One would require employers to offer reasonable accommodations for pregnant staff, just like the way in which the Americans with Disabilities Act has been implemented.
One other notable amendment updates the fee structure for corporate mergers, in order that small mergers pay lower fees and huge mergers pay higher ones.
Not the entire provisions within the funding bill are directly related to government funding, nevertheless.
One piece of the law would overhaul the 1887 Electoral Count Act, a law that former President Donald Trump and his allies sought to make use of to overturn Trump’s loss within the 2020 presidential election.
The new edition clarifies that the role of the vice chairman in certifying states’ electoral counts is a wholly ceremonial one, and he has no power to reject electoral votes which have been certified by individual states.
In 2020, Trump repeatedly pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the electoral votes for Biden. Pence resisted that pressure through the Jan. 6, 2021, certification process, becoming a goal of the pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol that day.
