The Senate on Thursday advanced a mammoth $1.7 trillion dollar omnibus spending bill that includes $45 billion in new Ukraine aid and $858 billion for the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The spending bill passed in a vote of 68-29, with only Republicans voting against it. The legislation now heads to the House and needs to be enacted before midnight on Friday to avert a partial government shutdown.
The passage of the bill came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Congress. The $45 billion aid package brings total US spending on the conflict in Ukraine to about $112 billion, only taking into account emergency funds that have been authorized explicitly for the war.
The $858 billion NDAA includes an additional $800 million in military aid for Ukraine and other provisions that will make it easier for Washington to arm the country. The Pentagon will be granted wartime purchasing powers by the NDAA that will allow it to waive some restrictions for arms purchases on certain weapons.
The NDAA also includes unprecedented military aid for Taiwan that Beijing views as a major provocation. The US has sold weapons to Taiwan since it severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 but has never before financed the deals. The NDAA will give Taiwan $2 billion each year until 2027 to buy US weapons and an additional $1 billion that will allow the US to send the island equipment directly from US military stockpiles.
$1.7 TRILLION total.
– $860 BILLION for “defense”.
– $45 BILLION for ukraine.
= $796 BILLION for domestic spending.
how much of that would ever be spent bettering all of the people of america.
Solid point PN, solid.
I’d like to see that $45 billion designated to ZelBoy go to places like Somalia, where children are dying by the thousands from starvation.
Oh wait—-they ain’t white.
Yes, if we are sending it anywhere it should be for humanitarian purposes only. But no money, only food and medicine and such.
And there you have it. The US does not care even is happy when people, of color die or are displaced especially when land or raw materials are involved. This goes back to the extermination of Native Americans and the slave trade It continued with the wars in the MidEast for oil. Our dedicated troops used to call Arabs and Muslims Sand Niggers. White Supremacy is alive and well in the USA
Nail on the head, Wendell, nail on the head.
“Our dedicated troops used to call Arabs and Muslims Sand Niggers.”
Probably still do. When I was in, it was Asians being called “gooks”. I’m sure that one is still tossed around too.
All of it including the new B21 bomber at 785 million a pop
When our grandkids will spend half of their paychecks just to pay the INTEREST on the debt we are taking on now, they will ask us why did we print and spend so much money in these hilariously huge, undebated, undemocratic , and full of lobbyist pork omnibus bills, what will we tell them? We just really wanted to kill more Russians and make sure the arms companies continue to get rich? Oh, by the way, enjoy your huge tax bill and no healthcare. That’s the legacy we are leaving behind.
End of the empire.
The Empire is dying a slow death.
Not so slow
Not fast enough.
Its about fucking time.
Not to mention, Housing,Clean water,Lousy jobs decaying Cities,a corrupt political system, On coming Fascism, A racist SCOTUS,An inferior education system and a bought and paid for Mass Media that hides the truth
Honestly this wasn’t an Omnibus, it was a double decker.
Millions,Billions,Trillions for war and death. Nothing for our suffering worker and our dying citys. Is this a good way to end humanity? I think not,somewhere somehow we need a rising up of the populace and a social and political revolution that creates life not death not profits. The chances of this happening with our fractured divided population are slim and none before the republic{sic} bites the dust.
Just more and more of our meagre wages pumped out of our pockets into the bank accounts of Raytheon jackasses. (Raytheon jackasses are only an example).
If the US did not support the Ukrainians resisting the Russian invasion the US would have to cope with the very likely Chinese take back of Taiwan – the expenditures connected with that would make supporting the Ukrainians seem like pocket change.
Just another day here on the ‘anti-war’ site, and I have seen more pro-war boosterism than I typically see in the MSM. Good job, Antiwar.com. :-/
when streets are lined with homeless people, they dare to do this in our face! Who do they work for?!