Senate Passes $1.5 Trillion Spending Bill With $14 Billion For Ukraine Aid—Here’s What’s In It

The massive spending package, which would appropriate funds for the government until September 30, passed the Senate on Thursday evening in largely bipartisan vote of 68 to 31.

Headlining the 2,741-page bill, about $782 billion is allocated for military spending under the Defense Department, while an additional $125 billion has been allocated to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In addition to funding day-to-day government operations, the bill appropriates about $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine as it fights off a Russian invasion, with $4 billion to help displaced refugees, $6.5 billion for military assistance and $1.8 billion for any macroeconomic needs, according to the House Committee on Appropriations.

It also grants agency requests for a number of new provisions, including a $400 increase to the maximum Pell Grant award, and nearly $7 billion to establish an agency under the National Institutes of Health tasked with building “high-risk, high-reward” technologies for disease research.

Among other provisions are the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which expired in 1994 and provided funds to help prosecute violent crimes against women; a measure to give the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over synthetic nicotine; and cybersecurity protections to help curb the risk of infrastructure attacks.

What didn’t make the cut? About $16 billion for Covid relief, including tests, vaccines and treatments, was stripped from the bill following last-minute disagreements over how to fund the provision—a move House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called “heartbreaking” on Wednesday as she pledged “to fight for urgently needed Covid assistance” in separate legislation slated for a vote as early as next week.