Senate gives final approval to Ukraine aid, huge budget bill

President Biden signs a $1.5 Trillion government funding bill with Ukraine Aid.

Democratic leaders restored the old practice of earmarks, hometown projects for lawmakers that Congress dropped in 2011 because voters viewed it as a sleazy misspending of taxpayers' money.

The practice was restored, the expansive bill was laced with thousands of the projects at a price tag of several billion dollars. Years ago, the numbers were often higher.

Affirming the practice's popularity, the Senate rejected an amendment by Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., to strip the earmarks. Braun said they encompassed 367 pages that weighed five pounds and showed “the swamp is rising again.” The amendment's defeat by a bipartisan 64-35 margin spoke for itself.

A lot has happened since Oct. 1, much of it challenging for Democrats. Biden's polling numbers have sunk, high inflation has persisted and gasoline prices have jumped. Omicron's fade has left voters impatient to end pandemic restrictions, Biden's marquee social and environment bill has crashed and Russia has invaded Ukraine.

With that election-year backdrop, Democrats saw the $1.5 trillion package as their chance to claim wins.

VOX reports "What is in the Appropriation Bills" as follows:

What’s in the appropriations bills

Earmarks: Beyond the larger expenditures that it contains, the appropriations package also brings the return of earmarks, or the ability for lawmakers to set aside funds for specific projects in their state or district.

In the Senate, these earmarks are now called “congressionally directed spending” and included requests for community centers, fire stations, and airport terminals. In the House, they are called “community project funding,” and included requests for regional water projects, local school programs, and workforce training. There are more than 4,000 earmarks in the omnibus package, including a swimming pool for a local park The Hill reports.

The $1.5 trillion appropriations bill contains a 6.7 percent increase in non-defense spending over the previous fiscal year to $730 billion, and a 5.6 percent increase in defense spending to $782 billion. Below are some of the programs that it will fund:

Ukraine aid: The bill allocates $13.6. billion in humanitarian relief and military support to Ukraine, including funding for refugees, medical supplies, food, and weapons transfers. Such aid is separate from bipartisan trade legislation the House has also passed, which supports President Joe Biden’s efforts to curb energy imports from Russia and requires a review of Russia’s membership in the World Trade Organization.

Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act: The legislation contains $575 million to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which funds programs that combat domestic abuse and sexual assault. Lawmakers have struggled to renew the bill since it expired in 2019 due to disagreements about gun control provisions, but they’ve since arrived at a compromise that stripped those out.

Financial aid for college: The bill includes $24.6 billion for federal student aid programs, including funding that increases the maximum Pell grant by $400 to $6,895 per year. That’s the biggest expansion to these grants — which are awarded annually to undergraduate students based on financial need — in 10 years, according to the legislation.

Food aid programs: The legislation contains $26.9 billion for child nutrition programs, which includes a $1.8 billion boost over the previous year for school lunches and a summer SNAP program. It does not include, however, funding for waivers that would enable schools to offer universal free lunches as they have been able to do during the pandemic.

Infrastructure money: As Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) noted last month, much of the spending allocated in the infrastructure bill has been held up because it has to be formally approved by Congress first via these appropriations bills. Once the bills are passed, millions in funding for roads and bridges, and other transportation programs, can be funneled out.

Defense spending: Roughly half the bill is dedicated to funding for the military and national security — including $32.5 billion more than the prior year. This includes money for weapons and transportation systems, veterans’ health care, and a 2.7 percent salary increase for service members.