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In the chamber’s final vote this year, the U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a $1.7 trillion omnibus bill to fund federal government agencies through September.

The bill also includes nearly $45 billion in aid for Ukraine — as well as amendment that will allow the sale and seizure of assets from Russian oligarchs to be transferred to Ukraine — as well as a bipartisan overhaul to the Electoral Count Reform Act, legislation to protect pregnant workers against discrimination, federal workplace protections for nursing mothers to pump breast milk, and a measure to strengthen antitrust enforcement.

The final vote on the bill was 68-29. The measure now heads to the House, which is expected to take up the legislation quickly and get it to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

“It’s taken a while, but it is worth it,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday morning as he announced an agreement to consider more than a dozen amendments to the bill. 

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chairs the appropriations committee and was one of the key negotiators on the bill, presided over the Senate for the majority of Thursday’s proceedings and gaveled out the vote, capping off a nearly 50-year career. The President pro tempore of the Senate is retiring at the end of his term.

“I brought a lot of bills to the floor,” Leahy said before the vote. “This is the last one.”

Lawmakers on Thursday applauded Leahy and his counterpart on the appropriations committee, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, who negotiated the bill. Shelby is also retiring at the end of this term.

“This package also represents a serious commitment to our national defense, aid for Americans in need as a result of natural disasters, and continuing support for the people of Ukraine as they fight against Russian aggression,” said Shelby. “While the path to get here was winding at times, I am proud that we have completed our work for the American people.”

“I have been blessed to represent the great state of Alabama for 36 years in the Senate, and it is my hope that I have left the state better than I found it,” Shelby added. “I look forward to witnessing the results of this funding and the state’s continued growth as a private citizen in just a few short weeks. Thank you, Alabama. Serving you has been the honor of my lifetime.”

Lawmakers hoped to complete work on the bill quickly in order to get home before a massive winter storm, which is impacting much of the country and is already wreaking havoc on travel ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The massive bill includes about $772.5 billion for non-defense, discretionary programs and $858 billion for defense and would finance agencies through September. Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle wanted to lock in government funding before a new GOP-controlled House next year could make it harder to find compromise on spending.

The House will take up the bill on Friday morning, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Thursday afternoon, because the bill will not be ready for the chamber until after midnight.

“We will not have recorded votes until at the earliest 9 a.m. ET tomorrow,” Hoyer said, adding: “As soon as we get the documents to process on the floor we will proceed as quickly as possible.”

To accommodate the gap, lawmakers will pass a short-term Continuing Resolution so the bill can be enrolled and sent to President Biden’s desk without any interruption in government funding.

Lawmakers on Wednesday night expressed concern that the bill might not go ahead due to disagreements over amendments, even after hearing a rousing speech from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his whirlwind one-day trip to the United States.

“This bill is hanging by a thread,” said Delaware Sen. Chris Coons on Wednesday night.

Senators were in disagreement about which amendments to consider, including a dispute over an amendment related to Title 42, which would extend the COVID-19 pandemic-era restrictions on asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Republicans wanted to ensure vote on an amendment from Utah Sen. Mike Lee, which would have prevented federal funds from being used to end Title 42 — and would have no doubt doomed the bill in the Democrat-controlled House, forcing lawmakers to scramble ahead of the Friday shutdown deadline.

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Montana Sen. Jon Tester offered an amendment of their own related to the border and Title 42, which appeared to break the logjam related to amendments.

Both Title 42-related amendments failed, setting the omnibus bill on a glidepath toward passage.

A number of other amendments were considered, including one from Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson which would cut all earmarks from the bill — which also failed.

A number of other amendments ended up being adopted into the bill, including:

• The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, offered by Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, which aims to enhance federal protections for pregnant workers (Passed 73-24)
• The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act, introduced by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, which expands protections for nursing mothers by providing space and time for employees to pump and store breast milk at work (Passed 92-5)
• An amendment from Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar stepping up antitrust enforcement, which (Passed 88-8)
• An amendment from South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham that allows for the seizure and sale of assets from Russian oligarchs to be transferred to Ukraine (Passed unanimously)
• An amendment from New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand which increases funding for a federal program that provides monitoring and treatment for responders and survivors who suffer from health conditions related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks (Passed 90-6)
• An bipartisan amendment from New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton providing restitution for terror attack victims (Passed 93-4)

The bill, which runs for 4,155 pages, includes about $772.5 billion for non-defense, discretionary programs and $858 billion for defense and would finance agencies through September.

Lawmakers worked to stuff as many priorities as they could into the sprawling package, likely the last major bill of the current Congress. That includes $27 billion in disaster funding to help communities recovering from disasters and extreme weather events as well as an overhaul of federal election law that aims to prevent any future presidents or presidential candidates from trying to overturn an election.

The bipartisan electoral overhaul was a direct response to former President Donald Trump’s efforts to convince Republican lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence to object to the certification of Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

The spending bill also contains scores of policy changes that lawmakers worked furiously to include to avoid having to start over in the new Congress next year.

Examples include a provision from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., that bans TikTok on government cell phones due to security concerns. Another provision supported by the Maine delegation was added to aid the state’s lobster and Jonah crab fisheries, delaying regulations proposed to help save endangered North Atlantic right whales. And, on the health care front, the bill requires states to keep children enrolled in Medicaid on coverage for at least a year, which advocates say increases access to preventative care.

However, millions who enrolled in the health care program for low-income Americans could start to lose coverage on April 1 because the bill sunsets a requirement of the COVID-19 public health emergency that prohibited states from booting people off Medicaid.

The bill also provides roughly $15.3 billion for more than 7,200 projects that lawmakers sought for their home states and districts. Under revamped rules for community project funding, also referred to as earmarks, lawmakers must post their requests online and attest they have no financial interest in the projects. Still, many fiscal conservatives criticize the earmarking as leading to unnecessary spending.

Some Republican senators raised objections to the measure, not only because the amount of spending but because of Congress’s habit of placing 12 separate appropriations bills into one massive package long after the fiscal year has begun and just before critical deadlines approach.

“Giving us a bill at 1:28 in the morning, that’s over 4,000 pages, that nobody will have an opportunity to read, that we’ll have no idea what’s in it, is not the way to run your personal life, your business life or your government,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. “This has to stop.”

House Republicans, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the leading candidate to be the next speaker of the House, are encouraged their colleagues in the Senate to only support a short-term extension. That way, they would have more ability to shape the legislation. McCarthy spoke to senators during their caucus lunch Wednesday. A notice sent by GOP leadership to House members urged them to vote against the measure when it comes to the House.

“This deal is designed to sideline the incoming Republican House Majority by extending many programs for multiple years and providing large funding increases for Democrat priorities on top of the exorbitant spending that has already been appropriated this year,” the notice stated.

The letter echoed a similar threat sent in a letter by multiple Republican lawmakers and lawmakers-elect earlier this week that, if Senate Republicans vote for the bill, they would oppose their legislative priorities.

Thirty-one House GOP lawmakers and lawmakers-elect signed a letter pledging that they will “do everything in our power to thwart even the smallest legislative and policy efforts” of Senate Republicans who vote to pass the $1.7 trillion full-year government spending bill.

Thirty-one conservatives signed the letter urging Senate Republicans to “use every tool possible to kill this bill,” warning that “failure to do so will result in not only legislative and political consequences, but irrevocable consequences for our nation.”

News of the letter was first reported by Punchbowl News on Wednesday. Notable signatories include New York Rep. Claudia Tenney, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, Florida Rep. Greg Steube and Texas Reps. Ronny Jackson, Mayra Flores, and Rep.-elect Keith Self.

The letter, released Wednesday, echoes a similar threat in a letter sent by 13 Republican lawmakers and lawmakers-elect earlier this week.

“We are obliged to inform you that if any omnibus passes in the remaining days of this Congress, we will oppose and whip opposition to any legislative priority of those senators who vote for this bill — including the Republican leader,” the letter, released Monday night, reads.