Omnibus – a 4,000+ page bill voted on in 2 days?
The bill, reportedly, totals $1.7 trillion, $773 billion of which is domestic spending specifically.
A Pork Laden Christmas Miracle: Bringing the Swamp Together
Democrats and Republicans reach across the aisle to waste tax-payer money.
Why Republicans Are the Minority
Kimberley Strassel in the WSJ explains: The GOP has a central problem: It’s members “have not shown a whiff of interest in fiscal restraint since the early days of Paul Ryan’s tenure as House speaker.”
Their majorities broke the bank during the Trump administration, enabling Democrats to point to deficits as reason to resist further tax reform. They held hands with the left to partake in five Covid bailouts in 2020 alone. They joined again to pass Mr. Biden’s infrastructure bill and the semiconductor slush fund. Members of the new, supposedly responsible Republican House majority weeks ago voted to keep the earmark gravy flowing.
No Fiscal Restraint or Reform
Voters in 2010 put Republicans in charge of the House to serve as a brake on the Obama administration. Next year’s House majority is no guarantee of a repeat. Democrats have figured out that the bait for “bipartisanship” is the promise of dollars, and today’s Republican Party bites every time. Eighteen Senate Republicans voted Thursday for the ugliest, least transparent spending bill on record. As Republicans scratch their heads over their disappointing midterm, they might consider that voters don’t see much of a defining difference with Democrats.
Past omnibuses at least confined themselves to funding everything under the sun (especially monuments to super-appropriators like Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby). This omnibus has also become a vehicle for legislation Congress wanted to pass this year but didn’t. These aren’t small changes: An overhaul of retirement savings rules. Cosmetics regulation. Electoral Count Act reform. Major changes to healthcare. For all we know, there’s a provision creating 12 new cabinet positions. We’ll find out next year, when someone has time to read it.
Want to know if your senator approves of authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to micromanage your mascara? Or killing off drift-net fishing operations? Or letting athletes at service academies get a waiver to play professional sports? Good luck. Members of both parties will say they voted for this turkey solely to avoid a government shutdown, and they’ll duck questions on the other major changes.
Lucky them. Zero accountability. Only this isn’t luck—it’s by design.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), speaking against the recently released omnibus spending bill:
$45 billion for Ukraine + unrelated laws … Don’t tell me you “defend democracy” if you support one bill once a year that funds everything, written behind closed doors by a few insiders, with insufficient time to read before voting.
Lawmakers Look to Be Home for Christmas
The House is expected to pass the bill today, averting a government shutdown that would go into effect at midnight.
