While everyone is distracted by the Democrat obstruction of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the Senate has passed a spending bill strangely similar to the last Omnibus, but by another name. Leadership is calling this bill a “minibus” with a continuing resolution (CR) attached. The minibus includes bills to fund Labor, Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Department of Education. The CR would fund the remaining departments through December 7.
The bill passed 93-7 with an odd group of Senators voting against it including Senators Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Mike Lee (R-UT), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Bernie Sanders (D-VT). Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), who also voted against the bill, released a statement saying, “We had the opportunity to fully fund the government on time for the first time in 22 years. Congress has used over 180 continuing resolutions instead of getting it all done. We are going to walk past the deadline on September 30 and fall into the same trap. This is unacceptable.”
Sen. Perdue is right. The Senate cancelled August recess and worked longer hours to pass the spending bills in an effort to avoid a CR and offer a more transparent process. However, they ended up trading content for that process without actually finishing all of the bills. This bill spends $33 billion more than the Omnibus did. This adds a tremendous amount to our national debt. Also, the values riders that Republicans have promised their constituents are nowhere to be found. Planned Parenthood continues to be funded, no conscience protections are provided for medical professionals, the Violence Against Women Act has been extended, and the bill includes funding to justify sterilizing children suffering from gender dysphoria, just to name a few atrocities.
One of the most important issues to the American people right now is wall funding. However, this spending package does not include it. Wall funding falls under the Department of Homeland Security, which will be funded by the CR, and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has convinced President Trump that this would be better fought for after the November elections. This is a just a political ploy to get the President to sign the bill. Speaker Ryan does not have anything to lose since he is not running again. All other Republicans running for re-election are going to have to face the question of whether or not they funded the wall, weakening their chances of remaining in office.
Like the Senate, the House never finished their appropriations process either, and Speaker Ryan is more than happy to take the easy route by adopting the Senate’s liberal spending bills. House Leadership voted to keep the Senate version while in conference and now the bill is headed to the House floor. The only hope for House Republicans in the upcoming election would be new leadership who would stop this nonsense. Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) bid for Speaker gives Republican voters incentive to come out to vote on November 6 to retain a Republican majority in the House. He voted against the Omnibus this year and will likely vote against this spending bill. He has continued to slam House Leadership over this issue.
Eagle Forum will continue to urge the House to elect Rep. Jim Jordan for Speaker in an effort to pass Conservative spending bills that will protect the integrity of taxpayers. We will also keep you informed of the status of the current spending bill.