Biden signs $1.7 trillion budget bill

US President Joe Biden has signed the $1.7 trillion budget bill for the 2023 fiscal year. The budget bill, which will provide funding for the US federal government until September 30, 2023, the end of the 2023 fiscal year, was submitted for President Biden’s signature after being approved by the US Senate and House of Representatives. In a statement made by the White House, it was announced that Biden had signed the bill. Biden also stated on his Twitter account that he signed the budget bill, which received bipartisan support, “as a year of historic progress comes to an end.” Noting that the budget foresees investments in medical research, security, veterans’ healthcare, disaster recovery, and violence against women legislation funds, Biden stated that the budget will also provide significant support to Ukraine. Biden made the assessment, “We expect more in 2023.” Aid to Ukraine The budget package, agreed upon after months of negotiations, includes $772.5 billion in non-defense spending and $858 billion in defense funding. The budget also includes $45 billion in military, humanitarian and economic aid to Ukraine. The budget also includes a provision that would ban federal employees from downloading TikTok on government-owned devices. The budget also allocates about $40 billion to help communities across the country recover from natural disasters such as droughts, hurricanes, floods and wildfires.