Senate passes $1.5 trillion spending bill with billions in Ukraine aid, sends it to Biden

The Senate on Thursday evening passed a $1.5 trillion spending bill with $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine, sending the measure to the White House with bipartisan support.

President Joe Biden is expected to sign the Omnibus Appropriations bill after the Senate passed it 68-31.

The legislation had passed in the House on Wednesday after being introduced just hours before. It then passed the Senate less than 24 hours later.

Republican Senators who voted in support of the bill include John Barrasso, Roy Blunt, Shelly Moore Capito, Susan Collins, John Cornyn, Jodi Ernst, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mitch McConnell, Jerry Moran, Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman, Richard Shelby, John Thune, Tommy Tuberville, Roger Wicker and Todd Young, according to the Senate Press Gallery. Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe did not vote.

The House took a bill on Haiti that had already passed both chambers of Congress, then added more than 2,700-pages to create the spending bill that passed, H.R. 2471.

The bill has been criticized for containing the first congressional earmarks in more than a decade. 

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Congress passing a $1.5 trillion 2,700-page bill in such little time is unacceptable. 

"Do you think there is a single person in the U.S. who believes that Congress is filled with speed readers capable of digesting thousands of pages in a matter of hours?” said Paul. “The 2741-page omnibus with a $1.5 trillion price tag that was released in the middle of the night is a perfect example of why Congress needs time to read the bills."

Paul said the Senate should pass his previously introduced Read the Bills resolution to "provide sufficient time for legislation to be thoroughly reviewed." According to Paul's office, the bill would "require bills, amendments, and conference reports to be filed for 1 day for every 20 pages before they can be considered, while leaving legislators room to act in emergencies."