The house of Representatives passed a $40 billion assistance package for Ukraine late Tuesday evening to help the country's fight against Russia.
The bill was passed by the House with 219 Democrats and 149 Republicans voting in favor of it.
The bill does not include increased funding to address the Covid-19 outbreak in the United States because Republicans did not support the combined package.
“Legislation that we put forward is because of the urgency that we saw when we were in Ukraine and Poland,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a news conference after the White House meeting. “COVID is a challenge to us and we need the resources to meet that challenge..... we will deal with the COVID issue.”
The financing is $7 billion higher than Biden's proposal for $33 billion announced two weeks ago. It will offer military and economic aid to Ukraine and support to regional allies, restock weapons, and $5 billion to alleviate global food shortages created by the war damaging Ukraine's typically robust agricultural output.
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