House Passes $1.5 Trillion Spending Bill Without COVID-19 Funding

Just two days before the federal government would have shut down, the United States House of Representatives voted on Wednesday evening to pass its $1.5 trillion spending bill.

The bill includes a massive aid package for Ukraine as well as money to keep the government running through September, the New York Times reported, though Democrats removed $15.6 billion in COVID-19 funding after bipartisan pushback.

President Joe Biden’s administration had said that it urgently needed funding for pandemic testing, vaccines, therapeutics, and other efforts to stop any new COVID-19 variants, the Times reported.

Biden administration officials, who requested $22.5 billion for pandemic efforts, initially suggested that they needed $30 billion, the publication reported. That amount was even further decreased during negotiations with Republicans.