(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Dodging any pretense of accountability for securing the chaotic and increasingly deadly southern border, the Senate on Thursday greased the skids for final approval of a massive $1.7 trillion omnibus bill.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., spent feverish pre-dawn hours twisting arms and doling out favors to upset an amendment proposed Wednesday by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, that would have required the bill’s passage to include a vote to preserve Title 42, a Trump-era immigration policy that is teetering on being rescinded.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, RINO-Swamp, along with 17 other alleged Republicans aided and abetted Schumer in scuttling the amendment and ramming though the titanic spending spree, which is stuffed with billions of dollars for political pork, pet projects and programs favored by leftists.
The bill, which passed in an 68-29 vote, will be sent to the House, where Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to fast-track a vote for it passage there as early as Thursday night so lawmakers can flee the Capitol for Christmas, leaving taxpayers a nearly $2 trillion boondoggle as a parting present.
Republicans voting yes (18): Senators Blunt Boozman Capito Collins Cornyn Cotton Graham Inhofe McConnell Moran Murkowski Portman Romney Rounds Shelby Thune Wicker & Young
Not voting: Barrasso, Burr & Cramer https://t.co/QG1mDxl20f
— Senate Press Gallery (@SenatePress) December 22, 2022
McConnell tried to defend the bill’s passage by arguing that it was the only way to continue vital funding for the Ukrainian war effort, to the tune of another $45 billion. The Senate bill also included $858 billion for defense spending, upwards of $790 billion for domestic programs and packs in more than 4,000 earmarks to exceed $15 billion.
We should put this omnibus bill right where it belongs: pic.twitter.com/lW2LE6IwtO
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) December 22, 2022
“With this vote, these Republican senators have committed a stunning act of betrayal of their constituents and the American people,” Richard Stern, a senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Signal.
“With less than two weeks until the new Congress, they have shamefully voted to deny the incoming conservative House majority the use of its power of the purse to rein in Biden and his cronies.”
The Heritage Foundation’s budget center director, Matthew Dickerson, echoed that sentiment.
“This massive omnibus bill will cost taxpayers about $1.9 trillion next year at a time when American families are hurting from high inflation and the government is already $31 trillion in debt,” Dickerson said. “It’s filled with woke earmarks and advances the Left’s big-government policy agenda.”
