US Senate gives final approval to $13.6bn emergency aid for Ukraine

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The US Senate on Thursday cleared $13.6bn in emergency aid for Ukraine as it battles Russia’s military invasion that has now stretched into the third week.

The aid is part of a $1.5 trillion federal spending plan from the Joe Biden administration that was given final approval after being rushed through the House of Representatives on Wednesday evening.

The bill was passed with a 68-31 bipartisan margin in the Senate as Democrats and Republicans together rallied in support of sending aid to war-torn Ukraine despite disagreements over rising inflation, the pandemic and energy policy.

It will now be sent to Mr Biden to sign into law.

“We promised the Ukrainian people they would not go at it alone in their fight against Putin,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said just before the vote.

“And once we pass this funding in a short while, we will keep that promise.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the approval “proves once more that members of both parties can come together to deliver results for the American people”, a rare show of bipartisanship in recent years.

She also pushed lawmakers to revive finances “urgently needed to prevent severe disruptions to our Covid response” after the House was forced to drop measures in the bill for $15.6bn to combat Covid.

From the total aid of $13.6bn to Ukraine, around half will go for arming and equipping the country and the Pentagon’s costs for deploying US troops to other Eastern European nations, while the rest will be for humanitarian and economic assistance.

Prior to the final vote, the Senate shot down three amendments that were backed by GOP senators, including measures to bar funds to be used for earmarks and funding for Covid vaccine mandates.

The House also passed a stopgap bill to extend government funding through Thursday which was part of the effort to prevent a government shutdown.

The overall $1.5 trillion bill gave Democrats a near 7 per cent increase for domestic initiatives to beef up spending for schools, housing, child care, renewable energy, biomedical research, law enforcement grants to communities and feeding programmes.

It also directs money to minority communities and historically Black colleges, efforts at preventing domestic violence against women and overseeing serious hacking incidents of authorities.

To secure Republican support, Democrats agreed to retain decades-old restrictions against using federal money to pay for nearly all abortions.

The compromised sprawling legislative bill, which runs 2,741 pages and expires Friday night, will be signed by Mr Biden to avert a weekend federal shutdown.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered.

To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.