All I Want for Christmas Is a Continuing Resolution
By Bluey Posted in Congress | Congress | Mitch McConnell | omnibus bills — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt with the 3,417-page omnibus. (Andrew Blasko)
Two weeks ago Sen. Jim DeMint outlined the end-game strategy Republicans in Congress should use when confronting 11 of the 12 unfinished spending bills and troop funding legislation. DeMint's idea wasn't revolutionary, but for anyone who cares about limiting the growth of government, it made perfect sense: forget the omnibus and pass a continuing resolution at this year's spending levels.
DeMint's idea would give conservatives a cause to rally around as Democrats negotiated the details of a mammoth omnibus bill. Unfortunately, the senator's own leadership decided it would rather bask in a few day's worth of bad headlines for Democrats instead of standing strong on principle. Republicans may be gloating today, but they should be ashamed if they support this atrocious omnibus.
It's hard to understand why Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was so shortsighted. In exchange for giving up his coveted earmarks, McConnell could have held the growth of government to 2% next year. Instead, it will increase between 4% to 5% under the omnibus. Even House Minority Leader Roy Blunt admitted today during a lunch with conservative bloggers that a continuing resolution would have been catastrophic for the Democrats in comparison to the omnibus.
During the same briefing with bloggers, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) seemed downright frustrated by his leadership's willingness to sign off on a bad bill. Short of keeping senators and staffs in the Capitol through Christmas, Coburn admitted there was little that could be done to stop the legislation.
As the Senate moves closer to voting on the half-trillion-dollar package, conservatives are making a final plea to slow down the process. The American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity, Citizens Against Government Waste and Club for Growth have all voiced opposition to the omnibus. Senators like Coburn and DeMint will need all the support they can get with McConnell and other GOP leaders pressuring them to back off this fight.
For as frustrating as it is to watch McConnell roll over, what's even more disappointing is that President Bush is willing to sign a bill (assuming troop funding for Iraq is added) that violates so many of the principles he's been fighting for all year. The bill is nearly $20 billion more than Bush's top-line number when “emergencies” are factored in and comes nowhere close to slashing pork projects in half.
Just last week Bush signaled his willingness to accept a continuing resolution, as DeMint had suggested. But as the negative headlines continued to pop up over the weekend and into yesterday, even the White House toned down its rhetoric, claiming, for example, the explosion of earmarks in the bill wouldn't trigger a veto.
With a vote taking place in a few hours, there's little that can be done in the short term other than educating members of Congress about the deeply flawed provisions in the legislation. Unfortunately, it might take a Christmas miracle to open their eyes to this flawed bill.
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All I Want for Christmas Is a Continuing Resolution 5 Comments (0 topical, 5 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
He's my Senator. I'm trying to find somebody who will answer the phone at this hour. I'd like to think he was with Coburn and the Republican Wing of the Republican Party, but I'm not sure on this spending bill.
Stare decisis is fo' suckas -- Feddie
It is really hard to get worked up about it because the Republicans had both houses and they pushed so much pork in their bills the whole pig was delivered for the President's guaranteed signature.
I hate it, I despise my tax dollars going for folly but it is too little and it is to late. I want those soldiers funded and as it doesn't seem to matter who is pushing these fat laden bills (Republicans or Democrats) I will take it so the military gets what it needs.
Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion
When the GOP can manage to summon the courage to throw out the abominably failed leadership of the disastrous 2000-2006 era, I might consider voting for one of them again. Until that point, I am compelled, as a patriot, to vote against the one-party system. Why isn't the actual leader in the Senate - Coburn - the one calling the shots? How is it that there is no accountability whatsoever for the shameful failures of the present GOP leadership?
Too bad primaries only work properly when there isn't an incumbant, or when extreme conditions exist. Er...conditions the averate voter considers extreme, anyway.
What this all boils down to is missed opportunity. The President and Congressional leaders had total victory within their grasp if only they would have held the line at a bare bones spending bill and dared Dems to leave town without funding the troops. That's a fight they would have won and grassroots conservatives would have cheered them for their courage.
Instead they settled for what they thought was good enough and hoped that nobody would notice the billions in earmarks that they go home with this Christmas.
Good reporting here from Bluey. Keep it up.