The $1.7 trillion omnibus bill passed the Senate by a vote of 68-29 on Thursday afternoon. Eighteen Republicans voted for the 4,155-page bill just released days ago.
The House will vote on the bill potentially Thursday and be signed into law before Friday night’s deadline ahead of a government shutdown. Senators were rushing to vote on the bill before terrible weather hit Washington, DC, that would prevent them from returning home.
“From start to finish — from top to bottom — this omnibus is bold, generous, far-reaching and ambitious,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters. “It’s not everything we would’ve wanted, of course. When you’re dealing in a bipartisan, bicameral way, you have to sit down and get it done, and that means each side has to concede some things.”
Final vote on omni was 68-29 (Barrasso, Burr & Cramer didn’t vote.) All no’s are Rs, of course. Some interesting no votes – Crapo, Ernst, Tillis, Fischer, Risch.
But a “free” vote for Rs since it was going to pass
— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) December 22, 2022
BREAKING: The horrible $1.7 trillion omnibus just passed the senate on a 68-29 vote with 18 Republican senators voting yes.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 22, 2022
The $1.7 trillion, 4,155-page bill includes $45 billion of aid for Ukraine, adding to the $66 billion of taxpayers’ money lawmakers have already approved for Ukraine.
As a blank check and without any accounting for funds spent, American taxpayers have given more aid to Ukraine in 2022 than Afghanistan, Israel, and Egypt combined in 2020. In just a few short months since the Ukrainian war began, the amount of U.S. aid to Ukraine also surpassed three of the largest recipients of U.S. military aid in history.
A few Republicans tried to stop the massive spending bill. Negotiations become sticky Wednesday after Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) Title 42 amendment threw a wrench in the Senate process. As a result, many critics of the deal were hopeful Congress would be forced to pass a short-term spending resolution (CR) to keep the government open, pending a continued standoff between Democrats on Lee’s amendment.
But Schumer resolved the issue with a procedural tactic to circumvent Lee’s amendment. Schumer worked with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Jon Tester (D-MT) Thursday morning by crafting a side-by-side amendment to provide political cover for ten senators to ignore Lee’s Title 42 amendment.
