President Joe Biden signed $1.5 trillion omnibus appropriations bill into law

This week, President Joe Biden signed into law a $1.5 trillion omnibus appropriations bill that funds a variety of measures.

From health and science agencies to food aid programs, to the military the omnibus spending bill consists of all 12 fiscal year 2022 appropriations bills plus supplemental funding to support Ukraine.

“Today we’re again showing the American people that as a country we can come together, as Democrats and Republicans and independents, and do big things; that our democracy can deliver … and outperform autocracies, and that there’s nothing we can’t do when we do it together as the United States of America,” Biden told an audience of lawmakers in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus.

Russia’s invasion, Biden said, has “united people all across America, united our two parties in Congress and united the freedom-loving world to act with urgency and resolve that we’re doing right now — that you provided me the ability to do.”

“With passage of this government funding legislation, we are delivering historic investments that will help lower the cost of living for working families, create American jobs, and support our nation’s most vulnerable,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03). “Put together, these bills will continue to invest in the American people as we tackle some of our nation’s biggest challenges, including making health care more affordable, confronting the climate crisis, and protecting our national security.”

The Senate passed the spending bill, known as an omnibus, late Thursday on a bipartisan vote of 68-31, after having passed three previous stopgap funding bills to keep the government running in the meantime.

The House passed the omnibus spending bill as a divided question, with Divisions B, C, F, X, and Z, and Titles 2 and 3 of Division N adopted on a bipartisan 361 to 69 vote and the remaining matter adopted on a bipartisan 260 to 171 vote.

The omnibus will provide funding through fiscal year 2022, which started in October.

“The Omnibus Appropriations package will make significant investments in American jobs and economic growth,” said Rep. Matt Cartwright. “It supports manufacturing expansion; preparation for extreme weather events; shutting down gang violence, gun violence and violence against women; community policing and community economic development; scientific research on earth and in space; as well as many priorities in the areas of health care, veterans’ care and energy production. This package moves America forward.”

The bill reflects Democrats’ enduring commitment to environmental justice, renewable energy, health infrastructure on tribal lands, and the arts, while the government funding package will help level the playing field for working people and position the United States to take on China with investments that will lower costs for hardworking Americans, create good-paying jobs, and protect our national security.

The funding bill boldly confronts America’s challenges at home and abroad by bolstering small businesses and safe communities, rethreading our safety net, building a sturdy ladder into the middle class, and confronting climate change.

It reflects priorities to reinforce our national security infrastructure, invest in new base child development centers and military family housing and ensures veterans receive the healthcare they deserve.

The law also makes strong investments in PFAS contamination cleanup, women’s health, mental health, suicide prevention, opioid abuse programs, homelessness prevention efforts, and so much more.