The House of Representatives voted Friday to approve a bill to fund the government through Dec. 16, averting a shutdown just hours before a midnight deadline when the funding was set to expire.
President Joe Biden signed the bill into law Friday afternoon. The Senate passed the measure on a bipartisan basis Thursday.
Lawmakers had expressed confidence there would be no shutdown, but it has been typical of Congress in recent years to run right up against funding deadlines.
In part, this is because opposing parties find it easier to reach last-minute deals to prevent a shutdown under tight time pressure.
This time, neither party wanted to be blamed for a shutdown — especially so close to the ensuing midterm elections in November, where control of Congress is at stake and as Democrats and Republicans both try to woo voters that they should to be in the majority. Lawmakers up for re-election are also eager to wrap up work on Capitol Hill so they can return to their home states to campaign.
In addition to money to keep government agencies afloat, the short-term funding measure provides about $12 billion for Ukraine as it continues to deal with Russia’s incursion into the country and requires the Pentagon to report how US dollars were spent there. Aid to Ukraine is a bipartisan priority.
The continuing resolution also extends an FDA user fee program that expires in five years.
The $12 billion in additional funding for Ukraine provides the US with money to continue sending weapons to replenish US stockpiles that have been sent to the country over the past seven months during the ongoing conflict.
In order to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons to counter Russian aggression, the bill provides an additional $3 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. This pot of money allows the US to procure and buy weapons from industry and ship them into the country, rather than drawing directly from the US arms stockpile.
The bill also authorizes an additional $3.7 billion in funding for the president’s withdrawal authority, which allows the U.S. to ship weapons directly from U.S. stockpiles, and includes $1.5 billion to “replenish the U.S. stockpile of equipment” provided in Ukraine, a newsletter from Senate Democrats on states the bill.
The bill designates $4.5 billion for the “economic support fund” to provide “support to maintain the functioning of the national government of Ukraine,” the fact sheet says.
The US has provided Ukraine with significant economic and military support since Russia’s invasion of the country began in February, committing more than $16.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February, a statement from Ministry of Defense on Wednesday.
This story and title have been updated with additional developments.