A nearly $14 billion emergency package to help Ukraine through Russia’s antagonistic invasion won congressional approval late Thursday night, when the Senate passed a massive $1.5 trillion spending bill to fund the US government through September.

The aid comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion has killed thousands, and forced over 2 million others to flee. The senate approved the legislation by a 68-31 bipartisan margin late Thursday after it received House approval on Wednesday.

Democrats and Republicans have a tough battle ahead this election year over rising inflation and gas prices, energy policy and lingering pandemic restrictions, but have come together to rally behind Ukraine.

Lawmakers more than doubled what the Biden administration requested in emergency aid for Ukraine. The Ukraine-related spending in the legislation includes money for humanitarian aid, $6.5 billion for the Defense Department, $3.5 billion to replenish equipment sent to Ukraine and $3 billion for US troops to help NATO member states in the region. It also includes funding to support Ukraine’s energy grid and to combat disinformation.

While the monetary help is welcomed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted that NATO and other supporters of Ukraine need to impose a no-fly zone over the country in order to counter Russia’s aerial attacks — a proposal the US and its allies have firmly rejected.

The initial version of the funding bill included $22 billion that the Biden administration said was necessary to continue fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The version that will land on Biden’s desk lacks that funding.

Senate Majority Lead Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, spoke of how the bill is ‘overflowing with very good things for our troops, for American jobs, for our families and for America,’ despite having nothing to combat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic at home.

‘It will give our troops a raise, provide more money for schools and Head Start programs and Pell grants, reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, fund the president’s Cancer Moonshot and open the floodgates for funding the bipartisan infrastructure law,’ he said before the Senate voted.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, agreed with Schumer’s sentiments, adding that the bill was crucial for America’s defense.

‘We must rapidly fund the urgent assistance that Ukraine and our allies along NATO’s eastern flank need right now, but we must also make the investments in military modernization that will help America achieve peace for years and decades to come,’ he said.

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