I have written about the new budget deal that is working it’s way through the Congress….appears that a deal is near completion and should be sent to Biden’s desk for his signature….
Congressional leaders unveiled a $1.7 trillion spending package early Tuesday that includes another large round of aid to Ukraine, a nearly 10% boost in defense spending, and roughly $40 billon to assist communities across the country recovering from drought, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. The bill includes about $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs and $858 billion in defense funding, the AP reports. Lawmakers are working to stuff in as many priorities as they can into what is likely to be the last major bill of the current Congress. They are racing to complete passage of the bill before a midnight Friday deadline or face the prospect of a partial government shutdown going into the Christmas holiday. Lawmakers leading the negotiations released the details of the bill shortly before 2am Tuesday.
Republican leader Mitch McConnell has warned that if the fiscal year 2023 spending measure fails to gain bipartisan support this week, he would seek another short-term patch into next year, guaranteeing that the new Republican majority in the House would get to shape the package. Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, argued against that approach in releasing the bill saying, “the choice is clear. We can either do our jobs and fund the government, or we can abandon our responsibilities without a real path forward.”
The Senate is expected to vote on the spending bill first where support from at least 10 Republican senators will be needed to pass it before the measure is considered by the House. As has been the case with recent catchall spending bills, lawmakers voiced concerns about passing legislation containing thousands of pages on short notice. “We still haven’t seen a single page of the Pelosi-Schumer spending bill, and they’re expecting us to pass it by the end of this week,” tweeted Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. “It’s insane.”
Ukraine gets its handouts in this bill….
Congress unveiled on Tuesday a massive $1.7 trillion omnibus funding bill that includes $45 billion in new Ukraine aid, which will bring total US spending on the war to about $112 billion.
The $45 billion is over $7 billion more than the $37.7 billion in Ukraine aid that the White House asked Congress to authorize before the next congressional session begins in January.
According to a summary of the new Ukraine aid, the $45 billion includes $9 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the US to purchase arms for Kyiv and funds other types of support, including training and intelligence sharing.
The aid includes $11.8 billion to replenish US military stockpiles that have been sent to Ukraine. US European Command will get $6.98 billion for “mission support, intelligence support, pay, equipment, and related activities.” The US is set to open a new command in Germany dedicated entirely to overseeing the training and arming of Ukrainian forces.
Other types of aid include $13.37 billion for economic assistance and direct budgetary support and $2.47 billion for humanitarian aid. When it comes to oversight, the new aid includes $6 million for the Pentagon’s Inspector General and requires an IG report on the new funds.
(antiwar.com)
Not to worry this will go through Congress for the theatrics are being set up for Zelensky to come and make his demands before our Congress.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is planning to visit Washington, DC on Wednesday on his first trip outside Ukraine since the Russian invasion, sources tell outlets including the AP and CNN. The sources say that while there’s a strong chance the trip could be called off at the last minute due to security issues, the visit will include a meeting with President Biden at the White House and an address to Congress if it goes ahead. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told lawmakers they should attend Wednesday evening’s session in person. “We are ending a very special session of the 117th Congress with legislation that makes progress for the American people as well as support for our Democracy,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to colleagues, per the AP. “Please be present for a very special focus on Democracy Wednesday night.”
It always amazes me that some well meaning people can pitch a bitch about all those ‘freeloaders’ that receive welfare in one form or another…..and yet be perfectly fine when it comes to paying other countries to do our bidding…..
We can only hope that eventually that Americans will one day care more about their neighbors that a bit of frozen tundra in some far away …..
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
In Saner Thought 
Are you a freeloader? You are so concerned about the welfare of the freeloaders that it is not even clear whether you are for against this omnibus spending bill.
Am I against the bill? Yes. Congress has an orderly process for passing legislation, but they crooked people we elect have not used it in decades.
Our unwillingness to make the effort to hold our leaders accountable is our nation’s most fundamental problem. The desire of our leaders to be unaccountable is why they want to flood our nation with uneducated illegal aliens. The desire of our leaders to be unaccountable is why they insist upon educating our children in awful public schools. So it is that for the sake of being held unaccountable for their fraud, waste, and abuse they are destroying our country, and they know it. If they thought they were scoring some kind of great victory, they would not try to hide what they are doing.
For the sake of being lazy, most people are not willing to stop our leaders from robbing our people, including their own children. That is an example of why sloth is one of the seven deadly sins.
The Roman Empire died from the addiction of the people to cheap bread and the slaughter in their “circuses.” They allowed their leaders to buy them off with something worse than worthless. We are no better. Will we even do as they eventually did? Repent and ask our Lord for His forgiveness?
No I am not….are you? chuq
Hmmmm. Not a freeloader. Well, if you want to spend other people’s money on so-called government charity, that is, so your favorite politicians can buy votes with other people’s money, I guess that makes you a robber. Is that better than a freeloader?
You are a little too presumptuous…..hate poor people but let government throw billions away on crappy little countries…..but fine….call me what you like you always do without any knowledge. Have a good Christmas. chuq
You are so busy throwing mud about you don’t really think about what you are saying. Who makes up the population of “crappy little countries”? Crappy little poor people?
If you don’t trust politicians to give money to “crappy little countries,” why would you trust them to give money to crappy little poor people? When are you going to figure out that “government charity” is an oxymoron?
Politicians buy votes and bribes with our money. That is what they have to do to get reelected. That is why government charity is not in our Constitution. The framers were actually trying to create a form of government that would work.
Am I happy with our government giving money to foreign countries? I don’t like giving foreign leaders any incentive to bribe our leaders, and it is obvious that a good percentage of our elected officials are receiving bribes from both foreign and domestic sources.
What about your concern? Ukraine? Our goal seems to be regime change in Russia. That is not an exit plan I can support. Frankly, I think we have too many people in Washington DC who are so busy lining their pockets that they have no interest in doing what is best for our country.
Giving $100 billion to Ukraine is nuts. When our NATO allies are not willing to do it, why should we?
Our goal should have been to make it obvious to Russia that an invasion of Ukraine would be more costly than it is worth. When Biden evacuated Afghanistan the way he did, he made it obvious that he is a weak president. His Ukraine policy is also an example of weakness, not strength. Biden is being led by the nose by people trying to profit from our treasury. He is not protecting the interests of the USA.
Easy answer…the people of this country are more important than anything…..to deny that is just very Christian. chuq
Oh! You are an American Firster. How did I miss that? 😂
If you really do think the people of this country are so important, instead of trying to give politicians more power to abuse, why don’t you back policies that protect their rights? Socialism does not work, has never worked, and cannot work.
I’d much rather see our tax dollars go to defend a sovereign, friendly nation……than to “bee friendly highways”, the “Michelle Obama Trail”, studying “the domestic radicalization phenomenon” and many more boondoggles.
Making sure that Ukraine isn’t getting a ‘blank check’ falls on my list below the current GOP effort to ban porn, immigration reform, and the Congressional failure to balance crack versus cocaine sentencing.
So Ukraine gets a blank check…just because? chuq
I’ve quite literally said here and in other comments here, that they shouldn’t a blank check, and I’ve stated exactly why we should be supporting them. Your comment is confusing.
Sorry to be confusing…..but no more so than everyone’s total acceptance of Zelensky’s rhetoric (no you just venting) chuq
Some of our “Neighbors” are the scum of the earth, living on dope and alcohol and handouts from well-meaning taxpayers.
Sorry I do not see it that way….I see hunger and homelessness as a bigger threat than some frozen wasteland. chuq
With as many jobs as there available there is no excuse for some of these welfare queens
Too many people look the other way when government throws money away and yet pretend to be charitable….kinda sad. chuq