Congress unveils $1.7 trillion spending bill

Congress introduced a new spending package Tuesday to avoid a partial government shutdown over Christmas. The package includes a nearly 10 percent increase in defense spending and allocates about $40 billion to disaster relief across the United States. The bill also includes $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine. If it passes, this would be the largest amount of American aid going to Ukraine since the war started. The legislation includes revisions to federal election law, which seek to keep future presidents or presidential candidates from trying to overturn an election. 

What would it need to pass? The bill is first headed to the Senate, which will need votes from all 50 Democrats and at least 10 Republicans to pass. If it doesn’t pass, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would seek a short-term resolution to cover the interim before the new term starts. If it’s delayed, a Republican-majority House will draw up a new spending package in the new term. The bill is 4,155 pages long, and many senators hadn’t seen it as of Tuesday. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said that makes it difficult to pass before Friday.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Stew about Congress’ packed end-of-year agenda.