US Senate Passes Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Including Ukraine Aid

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] The U.S. Senate approved the federal government budget for fiscal year 2023 with one day remaining before the budget deadline.

On the 22nd (local time), the Senate held a full session and passed the $1.7 trillion fiscal year 2023 budget with 68 votes in favor and 29 against, sending it to the House of Representatives. The House is expected to process the budget as early as the same day.

If passed by both the Senate and the House, the feared federal government shutdown can be avoided. The U.S. fiscal year 2022 ended on September 30, and the deadline for the temporary budget that allowed the government to execute finances based on the existing budget is also the 23rd.

The 4,155-page budget includes a defense budget of $858 billion, $44.9 billion for military aid to Ukraine, and budgets related to key economic policies of the Joe Biden administration. The Senate vote took place the day after Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, visited the U.S. and made a bipartisan appeal for support in a congressional speech.

Additionally, the budget includes provisions banning the use of the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok on government devices, reforms to vote counting laws to prevent a recurrence of the January 6 Capitol riot, and extensions of health insurance coverage.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.