Newspaper Page Text
4A Sunday, December 25, 2022
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
NATION
House passes $1.7 trillion spending bill with Ukraine aid
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE I Associated Press
The Senate side of the Capitol is seen in Washington, early
Thursday, Dec. 22
BY KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A $1.7
trillion spending bill financ
ing federal agencies through
September and providing
more aid to a devastated
Ukraine cleared the House
on Friday as lawmakers
raced to finish their work for
the year and avoid a partial
government shutdown.
The bill passed mostly
along party lines, 225-201. It
now goes to President Joe
Biden to be signed into law.
Passage of the bill repre
sented a closing act for Rep.
Nancy Pelosi’s second stint
as House speaker, and for
the Democratic majority
she led back to power in the
2018 election. Republicans
will take control of the House
next year and Rep. Kevin
McCarthy is campaigning to
replace her.
He is appealing for sup
port from staunch conserva
tives in his caucus who have
largely trashed the size of
the bill and many of the pri
orities it contains. He spoke
with a raised voice for about
25 minutes, assailing the bill
for spending too much and
doing too little to curb illegal
immigration and the flow of
fentanyl across the U.S.-Mex-
ico border.
“This is a monstrosity that
is one of the most shameful
acts I’ve ever seen in this
body,” McCarthy said of the
legislation.
The speech prompted a
quick quip from Rep. Jim
McGovern, D-Mass., who
said “after listening to that,
it’s clear he doesn’t have
the votes yet,” a reference
to McCarthy’s campaign to
become speaker.
Pelosi said “we have a big
bill here because we had
big needs for the country,”
then turned her focus to
McCarthy:
“It was sad to hear the
minority leader say that this
legislation is the most shame
ful thing to be seen on the
House floor in this Congress, ”
Pelosi said. “I can’t help but
wonder, had he forgotten
January 6th?”
Biden applauded the bill’s
approval, saying it was proof
that Republicans and Demo
crats can work together, and
“I’m looking forward to con
tinued bipartisan progress in
the year ahead.”
“This bill is good for our
economy, our competitive
ness and our communities
— and I will sign it into law as
soon as it reaches my desk,”
Biden said.
The Senate passed the
defense-heavy measure with
significant bipartisan sup
port Thursday, but the vote
was much more split in the
House. Some 30 GOP law
makers promised to block
any legislative priority that
comes from those Republi
can senators who voted for
the bill and leadership urged
a no vote.
In the end, nine House
Republicans voted for the
bill. Seven of them are leav
ing Congress. Only Reps.
Brian Fitzpatrick of Penn
sylvania and Steve Womack
of Arkansas are returning.
The lone Democrat to vote
against the measure was
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cor-
tez of New York.
The bill runs for 4,155
pages, not including amend
ments the Senate added. It
contains about a 6% percent
increase in spending for
domestic initiatives, to $772.5
billion. Spending on defense
programs will increase by
about 10% to $858 billion.
The bill’s passage came
only hours before financing
for federal agencies was set
to expire. Lawmakers had
passed two stopgap spending
measures to keep the govern
ment operating, and a third,
funding the government
through Dec. 30, passed Fri
day and was signed by Biden.
That ensured services con
tinue until Biden could sign
the full-year measure, called
an omnibus, into law.
The massive bill wraps
together 12 appropriations
bills, aid to Ukraine and
disaster relief for communi
ties recovering from hurri
canes, flooding and wildfires.
It also contains scores of pol
icy changes that lawmakers
worked to include in the final
major bill considered by the
current Congress.
Lawmakers provided
roughly $45 billion for
Ukraine and NATO allies,
more than even Biden
requested, an acknowledg
ment that future rounds of
funding are not guaranteed
with a new GOP-led House.
In a dramatic address to a
joint meeting of Congress on
Wednesday night, Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelen-
skyy told lawmakers that the
aid was not charity, but an
investment in global security
and democracy.
Though Ukraine aid has
largely had bipartisan sup
port, some House Republi
cans have been critical of the
effort, arguing the money is
better spent on priorities in
the U.S.
McCarthy has warned that
Republicans would not write
a “blank check” for Ukraine
in the next Congress. Sen
ate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer said after Thurs
day’s vote he’s having trouble
understanding the concerns.
“I’m just befuddled by
some of these right-wing
Republicans who don’t want
to help Ukraine,” Schumer
said. “It’s always been, the
more hard right you were,
the more anti-Soviet you
were, but all of a sudden,
they’re pro. I hope it’s not a
residue of Trump.”
The Senate passed the
funding package Thursday
by a vote of 68-29 but it takes
time for the Senate clerk’s
office to review the bill and
include amendments that
were added that day. As
a result, the bill ended up
passing with a half-empty
House chamber. More than
220 lawmakers sought the
option to vote by proxy, and
many raced to get out of
town before risking canceled
flights and spending Christ
mas in Washington.
Republicans have vowed
that abolishing the practice
of remote voting will be
among their first acts in the
majority next year.
The funding bill also con
tains roughly $40 billion in
emergency spending in the
U.S., mostly to assist com
munities across the country
recovering from drought,
hurricanes and other natural
disasters.
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