President Joe Biden signed a $1.2 trillion funding package that will allow the US government to function until September 30, avoiding a partial lockdown.
The White House announced the signing on Saturday after the US Senate approved the package in the early hours of the morning. That ended a partisan tug of war, marked by repeated infighting among Republicans over the amendments. With a midnight deadline looming, Senate leaders rejected efforts by conservative Republicans to implement deep spending cuts and immigration restrictions.
Biden applauded the passage of the funding package, but also urged lawmakers to approve assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific allies that has been stalled for months, as well as a measure that would strengthen border security between the United States and Mexico.
“I want to be clear: Congress’s work is not done,” Biden said in a statement Saturday.
NATO’s top civilian official said last week that Ukraine was “running low on ammunition,” echoing warnings from the country’s allies, including the United States.
The financing package increases defense appropriations by 3% while keeping overall national spending unchanged. The temporary spending measures had funded the federal government for the first six months of the federal fiscal year.