Washington: US senators on Friday approved an annual spending package allocating $200 million to strengthen gender equality and democracy in Pakistan.
The $1.7 trillion omnibus bill includes $45 billion in aid to Ukraine and election law reforms aimed at preventing a repeat of last year’s attack on the Capitol.
Pakistan’s allocation under the US Fund for Gender Equality is 20 times more than the allocation in 2020.
In December 2020, the US Congress approved $10 million to address gender disparity and $15 million to strengthen democracy in Pakistan. While in 2000, Pakistan received 25 million dollars for the same purpose.
The House of Representatives on Friday rubber-stamped a major annual spending package just hours before a midnight deadline to keep the federal government open — though a holiday season shutdown was never a serious threat.
“This bill is an important piece of legislation that not only funds our government, continues to serve our people, but also demonstrates that the United States government works,” said House Majority Leader Steney. Hoyer said before the vote.
Joe Biden’s failure to get the package on the table would have been embarrassing for the president, to argue for $44.9 billion in emergency military and economic aid proposed as part of his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky’s legislation. A few days after moving to the White House.
But it ultimately enjoyed a smooth passage through the Lower House, where Democrats hold a slim majority for a few more days until the Republican-led 118th Congress opens for business.
Ten Republicans voted in favor to help carry the package by 225 votes to 201.
Paying for nearly every aspect of the day-to-day running of the federal government, from law enforcement to money printing, the giant bill keeps the lights on until next October.
But it also includes add-ons clearly tied to funding, such as reforms tightening 19th-century electoral law to make it clear that vice presidents do not have the power to overturn election results.
Defeated President Donald Trump took advantage of the text’s loose wording to argue that his deputy, Mike Pence, could block the transition of power after the 2020 election, amid false claims of voter fraud.
Pence denied Trump’s requests and the billionaire Republican’s insults to his vice president were the cornerstone of his speech that reportedly incited the crowd to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump, who has launched a race to regain the White House despite being the focus of several criminal and civil investigations, released a statement Thursday calling the package “a monstrous…
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also urged his party not to vote, arguing that negotiations over the size and scope of federal spending would be difficult when he wrests the lower house from Democrats in early January. They will have more influence.
The House was half-empty on Friday, with more than 200 representatives using absentee voting provisions, strictly for those with Covid-19, to stay home and vote by proxy.
Republicans there privately lamented the lack of time they were given to study the bill — it was finalized just three days ago — and the “wake up” provisions it contained.
Rumors circulated among congressional staffers and the media that McCarthy would spend hours criticizing the bill for his so-called “magic minute” privilege.
McCarthy held a budget vote last November in a rambling speech that lasted a record eight-and-a-half hours.
But he took pity Friday on colleagues trying to get home amid a once-generational winter storm, reining in his criticism of the legislation for just 25 minutes.
“We’re two days away from Christmas,” he said. “The Christmas season is the season for giving, but in Congress it seems the season of giving will line the pockets of Democrats’ special interests and leave hardworking Americans sticking with the tab.”
