US Congress agrees to US$1.5t funding deal, including Ukraine aid

[WASHINGTON] US lawmaker have reached a US$1.5 trillion deal to fund the federal government for fiscal year 2022, including US$13.6 billion in security and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and US$15.6 billion for Covid, US congressional leaders said on Wednesday.

The announced agreement comes as current funding for US agencies is set to expire on Friday.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro, in a separate statement, said the plan includes US$730 billion in non-defence funding and US$782 billion in defence funding.

"This bipartisan agreement will help us address many of the major challenges we face at home and abroad: from Covid-19, to the vicious and immoral attack on Ukraine, to the need to lower costs for hardworking American families," US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

The omnibus spending plan will boost funding for domestic priorities, including money for infrastructure passed under an earlier bipartisan measure to revamp US roads, bridges and broadband, they said.

It also includes new protections to protect US infrastructure from cyberattacks "by Russia and other bad actors." The measure will also reauthorise the Violence Against Women Act, Pelosi and Schumer said. REUTERS