The Senate passed a bill for 1,7 trillion. dollars
While I was writing that the fate of the large budget Omnibus bill in the amount of 1,7 trillion. dollars is vague, the Senate took it and passed it by 68 votes to 29. Now the work of the federal government is funded until September 30, 2023. What else is interesting inside:
● $45 billion in aid for NATO and Ukraine;
● On April 1, 2023, the program introduced during the coronavirus epidemic, which provided funding to states to prevent workers from losing health insurance upon dismissal, will end;
● Electoral Count Act, which is designed to prevent a repeat of the situation after the 2020 presidential election. There will be clear deadlines for when states must appoint electors, and they must vote for the president. The vice president's role in counting electoral votes will become more ceremonial, making it more difficult for congressmen to challenge the slates of electors, which they will be required to accept if the courts have upheld the validity of the election. The states themselves will be clearly obligated to appoint electors in order to prevent a situation with “fake electors” that Trump supporters tried to appoint;
● $38 billion to finance the consequences of natural disasters in the western and southeastern states;
● 2,6 billion to finance investigations and legal costs in cases related to the riots on January 6, 2021, as well as 11,3 billion for the FBI to combat extremism and terrorism within the country. The FBI is about to build a new headquarters, which Maryland and Virginia are desperately fighting for;
● Closing a number of loopholes in tax legislation;
● Increase in military salaries by 4,6% and by 22,4% for medical care for Vietnam War veterans. 55,7 billion for various assistance to veterans, as well as 5 billion for veterans who suffered from chemical poisoning during service;
● Ban Tik-Tok on federal devices;
●Increasing the budget for the Capitol Police and 2,5 million for protecting the homes of senators;
● An additional 25 million for the National Labor Relations Board, which serves as an intermediary between employers and unions, approves the results of elections in them and elections to create new unions. A long overdue measure;
● Funds to combat the “opioid epidemic”, psychiatric care for children, including those with drug addiction;
● An additional $576 million for the Environmental Protection Agency and a 6,4% increase in funding for the National Park Service;
● 8 billion or 30% more funds for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to help low-income families pay for child care;
● New legislative protections for pregnant workers.
What wasn't included:
● Extension of child benefits through Child Tax Credit;
● 9 billion for the fight against coronavirus, which Biden asked for;
● SAFE Banking Act, which would simplify access to banking services for companies in the field of production and sale of marijuana;
● Open App Markets Act to stimulate competition in application development and make them cheaper for consumers;
● Reducing differences in minimum sentences for possession and sale of crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Currently, crack is punished 18 times more severely than powder cocaine, even though it is essentially the same drug. In 1986, in the wake of the fight against crime, a law was passed according to which 1 gram of crack was punishable by the same sentence as 500 grams of powdered cocaine. There was a racial connotation to this: blacks were more likely to be imprisoned for crack cocaine, and whites were more likely to be imprisoned for powder cocaine;
Now it’s up to the House of Representatives, which will soon also vote on the bill and send it to Biden for signature.
Author: Yan Veselov
