WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Thursday approved a temporary spending package to keep the government funded past a deadline for today and send another significant round of emergency aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, punting negotiations on a longer-term funding measure until after the November elections.
The legislation, which would extend government funding through Dec. 16, passed 72-25. That sent it to the House, which was expected to quickly pass the measure, sending it to President Joe Biden for his signature before funding was scheduled to lapse at midnight tonight.
In addition to continuing government spending for several weeks, the measure would provide about $12.3 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine as it fights to continue reclaiming territory from Russia.
It sailed through the Senate with few objections, after Democrats removed an energy permitting measure by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who had initially insisted upon its inclusion after being promised it would receive a vote in exchange for his support last month for the party's major climate, health and tax package.
The proposal, which would make it easier to build solar, wind, oil and gas infrastructure, had rankled members of both parties, and Manchin agreed to remove it Tuesday, as it threatened to derail the spending package and prompt a government shutdown at the end of the week.
"The last thing the American people need now is a pointless government shutdown," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, said in a speech on the Senate floor before the vote. "I'm optimistic we're on track to avoiding one well before the funding deadline."
The tranche of aid for Ukraine comes after Congress has already approved about $54 billion in two previous packages. When it is enacted, the investment in Ukraine will be the highest amount of military aid the United States has committed to any country in a single year in nearly half a century, since the Vietnam War.
It would provide $4.5 billion for a fund dedicated to supporting the Ukrainian government, and $3 billion for weapons, equipment and other military support. It also would provide $1.5 billion to replenish U.S. weapons already sent to Ukraine, and $2.8 billion for the Defense Department. And it would allow Biden to authorize the transfer of up to $3.7 billion of U.S. weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
"Seven months since the conflict began, it's crystal clear that American assistance has gone a long way to helping the Ukrainian people resist [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's evil, vicious aggression," said Schumer, "But the fight is far from over."
Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also voiced support for the Ukraine aid, while admonishing the Biden administration to get it out the door more quickly.
"Assisting Ukraine is not some feel-good, symbolic gesture," McConnell said. "It's literally an investment in our own national security and that of our allies."
Disaster assistance was attached to the stopgap bill, including $2.5 billion to help New Mexico communities recover from the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, the largest wildfire in the state's history; $2 billion for a block grant program that aids the economic recovery of communities impacted by recent disasters; and $20 million for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements previously authorized for Jackson, Miss.
An additional $18.8 billion was included for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to respond to current and future disasters, such as Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida on Wednesday.
The bill would provide an additional $1 billion for a program that helps low-income households heat their homes. And it would transfer $3 billion from a Pentagon aid program to the State Department for continued Afghan resettlement operations.
Lawmakers also included a reauthorization of the Food and Drug Administration's user fee agreements for five years, which ensures the agency can continue critical product safety reviews and won't need to issue pink slips for thousands of employees working on drug and medical device applications.
The administration's announcement Thursday morning that it would provide more federal assistance and expand a disaster declaration for western Alaska, where a powerful storm pummeled several communities, helped resolve a last-minute objection from that state's delegation. Alaska's Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan had lobbied the administration for the expansion.
The measure also includes $1 billion for a program championed by Democrats to help lower-income families handle higher energy and heating costs in the coming winter.
But party leaders, confronting Republican opposition, dropped other Democratic priorities from the package, including the Biden administration's request for billions of dollars in emergency funds to combat the coronavirus pandemic and the spread of monkeypox across the country.
Democrats have struggled to pass another round of pandemic aid money since it was abruptly dropped from a sprawling government funding package in March, as Republicans balked at the inclusion of any new federal money to address the coronavirus crisis.
Republicans criticized the health spending as unnecessary. The White House said the money would have been used to accelerate the research and development of vaccines and therapeutics, prepare for future covid variants and support the global response.
"I will keep fighting for these important resources," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, vowed in a statement, adding that he would continue to push for an annual omnibus package. "The federal government funds programs that the American people rely on, and we should do the job they sent us here to do," he added.
Passage of the stopgap spending bill was the final legislative deadline facing the Senate before its members scatter before the midterm elections, and senators swiftly began departing Washington after casting their votes. But the action set up a daunting to-do list for after the November balloting. Senators will have to wrangle the dozen annual spending bills -- and another round of earmarked projects for their states -- before several senior lawmakers, including Leahy, retire at the end of the year.
"I think both sides -- at least the overwhelming majority of the Democrats and Republicans -- would like to fund the government, do their job," said Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, who is retiring. "There's always some that say, 'Let's kick it to next year.' I said that's nonsense."
Information for this article was contributed by Emily Cochrane of The New York Times and by Kevin Freking of The Associated Press.