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US Passes Record $901B Defense Bill—$400M Still Headed to Ukraine
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US congressional leaders have released a new annual defense policy bill that sets national security spending at a record $901 billion for 2025, Reuters reported on December 8.
The legislation also earmarks $400 million in military aid for Ukraine, maintaining a level of support despite ongoing debate in Washington over future assistance.
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The 3,000-page bill includes a 4% pay increase for enlisted service members but leaves out a bipartisan proposal aimed at boosting housing construction for military families, a measure some lawmakers had pushed to include before final negotiations concluded.
According to Reuters, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said the bill reflects President Trump’s priorities by “ending woke ideology at the Pentagon, securing the border, revitalizing the defense industrial base, and restoring the warrior ethos.”
At the same time, US President Donald Trump said his administration has made “tremendous progress” toward completing a peace proposal to end the war in Ukraine, adding that his representatives will soon hold separate discussions with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian officials.
Trump wrote that his team had significantly advanced negotiations “with respect to ending the War between Russia and Ukraine” over the past week. He said the initial 28-point peace plan—described as drafted by the United States—had been “fine-tuned, with additional input from both sides,” and that only “a few remaining points of disagreement” still need to be resolved.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the US peace plan may soon force Ukraine into an exceptionally difficult decision.
He noted that there are options ahead—“either ‘the difficult 28 points,” or experience “an extremely hard winter.”
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-111f0e5095e02c02446ffed57bfb0ab1.jpeg "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
