For years the GOP has been telling us, just get us elected and we can fix our broken government. And for years weāve listened and handed them more and more power.
At this point, the GOP controls the House, the Senate, and the White Houseā¦ and sadly, they continue the same terrible trends of the Democrats.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
On Thursday the GOP continued the ugly, big government trends of the Democrats by pushing through a huge, mind-bending $1.3 TRILLION dollar omnibus budget bill.
The bill is absolutely abhorrent and is filled with billions and billions in wasteful spending.
The Heritage Foundation recently explained just how terrible this bill is:
The omnibus spending bill unveiled last night is an embarrassing rundown of broken promises and leaves zero doubt Congress has turned its back on its commitments to the American people.
For too long, members of Congress have pledged to break Washington's spending addiction…
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) March 22, 2018
… defund Planned Parenthood, restore regular order to the budgeting process, secure the border and end the failed Obamacare experiment once and for all.
This monstrosity does none of those things.
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) March 22, 2018
Instead, this bill disregards the unstable fiscal path that the country is on in favor of more deficit spending, welcoming back trillion dollar deficits for the foreseeable future.
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) March 22, 2018
This 2,232 page omnibus was largely crafted behind closed doors by a handful of Congressional power brokers and will be voted on almost immediately, providing an insufficient amount of time for thorough debate and constructive amendment.
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) March 22, 2018
At a time when Congress should be reinstituting spending caps or enacting other measures to put our nationās spending on a fiscally responsible track, it is unshackling the Washington swamp to spend without constraint. @JustinBogie
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) March 22, 2018
The bill doesnāt slow Washingtonās spending, it doesnāt defund Planned Parenthood, it doesnāt restore the regular budgeting process, it doesnāt secure the border, and it doesnāt kill Obamacare.
They donāt do any of the things that the GOP has long promised us they would do.
In fact, all this bill does is prove that anyone voting for the GOP has simply thrown their vote away.
But there is some hope. There are some in Congress who are as disgusted with this broken process as we are, and they are speaking out in an effort to get this bill killedā¦ or to at least shame those in the GOP who are voting for its passage.
Chair of the House Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows (R-NC):
– Record spending levels
– No wall/border security
– Obamacare intact
– Funds Planned Parenthood
– Sanctuary Cities funded
– Barely 24 hours to read a 2,300 page billThis Omnibus is so far from what the forgotten men and women of America voted for. I will oppose it.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) March 22, 2018
Congress is about to vote on a $1.6 trillion funding bill, privately written by congressional leaders (still yet to be made public)–giving members and the public around 24 hours to read its 2,000 pages.
This is the total opposite of what Americans voted for. When will we learn?
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) March 21, 2018
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) was pithy in his unmasking of how bad this bill is:
2,232 pages. $1.3 trillion. 48 hours.
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) March 22, 2018
The bill is over 2,000 pages and yet, Congress will have less than 48 hours to read the entire bill, understand what each provision means to our nation, and decide if they should vote for the mass as it is.
How many of our elected officials do you think are actually going to read the bill?
I only know of one man whoās actually going to try.
He is Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), he is live-blogging his attempt to read the entire bill, and he is not happy with most of what heās found in the bill thus far. (Though there have been some bright spots.)
He took to Twitter to explain what he had found:
I ran for office because I thought the Obama spending and trillion dollar annual deficits were a real problem for our country and now Republicans are doing the same thing. https://t.co/Fdi9riA3YK
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Shame, shame. A pox on both Houses – and parties. $1.3 trillion. Busts budget caps. 2200 pages, with just hours to try to read it.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
FYI- The 2200+ page, budget-busting Omnibus has been printing for two hours in my office and still isnāt done.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
FYI- The 2200+ page, budget-busting Omnibus has been printing for two hours in my office and still isnāt done.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Well here it is, all 2,232 budget-busting pages. The House already started votes on it. The Senate is expected to soon. No one has read it. Congress is broken… pic.twitter.com/izvJlUEgUM
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
1. On page 207. 2000+ pages to go! Reading about the ever wasteful $6 billion National Science Foundation.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
2. Remember the $350,000 NSF spent asking if japanese quail are more sexually promiscuous on cocaine?
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
3. Reading this monstrous bill full of grant programs begun decades ago reminds me of Reaganās critique: the nearest thing to immortality is a government program.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Page 226 of terrible, no good, rotten deficit spending bill.
I found a kernel of hope: āno funds in this act will be used to support or justify torture."
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Page 240 good news for states rights:
no funds will be spent to prevent any stateās medical marijuana initiatives.
Thank you Congr. Rohrbacher
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Page 278. (1954 to go!)
$961 million to destroy our chemical weapons. Who was it, exactly, who convinced our government to pay billions to develop weapons we now find deplorable?
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Page 281 of ācrumni-busā.
CIA retirement funding. Wouldnāt it be great to amend out the retirement benefits of Trump hater John Brennan and Congressional dissembler James Clapper? pic.twitter.com/rRG6qGKcx6
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Here are a few more highlights:
o $1m for the Cultural Antiquities Task Force
o $6.25m for the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation
o $20m for Countering Foreign State Propaganda
o $12m for Countering State Disinformation and Pressure— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
o $5m for Vietnam Education Foundation Grants
o $2.579m for Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe
o $15m to USAID for promoting international higher education between universities
o $2.696bn for International Disaster Assistance— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
o $1.371bn for Contributions to International Organizations
o $51m to promote International Family Planning and Reproductive Health
o $7m promoting International Conservation
o $10m for UN Environmental Programs— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
o $1m for the World Meteorological Organization
o $218m for Promoting Democracy Development in Europe (yep..the birthplace of democracy needs promoting)
o $25m for International Religious Freedom
o $10m for disadvantaged Egyptian Students— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
on page 355. NSA prohibited from targeting US persons with FISA 702 program.
sounds good ābut ā privacy advocates fear that NSA still does back-door targeting of US persons.
Courageous Senator Wyden has asked how many US persons caught up in supposedly foreign data base.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
But Brennan and Clapper too busy spewing hatred of Trump to respond to legitimate requests.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Page 357. Sec. 8116 no funds can be used in Iraq in contravention of the War Powers Act
sounds good but . . . havenāt we been back in Iraq at war against new foes without any new congressional authorization?
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Page 348 of terrible, rotten, no-good budget busting bill, a nugget that I wish we obeyed
sec. 8103: none of the funds may be used in contravention of the War Powers Act
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
hmm . . . that would mean we shouldnāt be spending $ in undeclared wars in Yemen, Libya, Niger, Somalia, Afghanistan
wonder why the party that talks about the rule of law, doesnāt obey the rule of law?
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
and Iām STILL reading. This bill is no @bradthor thriller.
Page 365:
Overseas contingency operations. aka military slush fund that circumvents budget caps.
All told, weāve spent over a trillion dollars in this budget busting category.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Page 376 of terrible, rotten, no-good budget busting bill:
I found it! I found it! Border security, what President Trump wanted!
no . . .wait a minute section says Defense can spend what funds it determines to enhance the border security of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Tunisia
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
eyes getting tired but really someone should read this beast.
Page 392 sec 9007: no $ shall be spent āfor the permanent stationing of US forces in Afghanistanā
Wonder what they meant by permanent? Some might argue that after 16 years we approaching the definition of permanent.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Page 430 of ācrumni-bus:ā Good news. The government is going to āearnā $350 million by selling oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Bad news is the $ wonāt go to reduce the $21 trillion debt. The $ will be instead be spent elsewhere by the Federal government.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Page 447: a little over $30 billion for Dept of Energy
Wonder if anyone would notice if we had no Dept of Energy
Put oversight of nuclear waste in DOD and let supply & demand be our Energy policy
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Page 485: No $ used by the IRS to target citizens for exercising 1st amendment rights.
Do you think Lois Lerner knew about this part of the law before she targeted Tea Party groups? pic.twitter.com/t41kZ63oD8
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Ordered some pizza to help me get through. Still going… pic.twitter.com/FKDO3DkRHe
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
page 550:
$9 billion for Govt Services Admin that oversees federal properties
Fed government spends $1.7 billion a year to maintain 770,000 empty buildings while continuing to buy new properties.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 23, 2018
Page 580:
Post Office gets $58 million but only if it promises not to close down small, underutilized, money-losing post offices.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 23, 2018
Page 587:
No $ for the President to request FBI background report on any individual.
If we had amendments, this would be a good place to add no $ for partisan hacks in the Intel community to unmask any American without a judicial warrant.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 23, 2018
Page 594 sec 626: No $ to require disclosure of content of an electronic communication.
Good amendment here. It would be to also protect forced disclosure of metadata, ie phone #ās and identities of the phone callers.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 23, 2018
I shared 600 pages tonight. Iām done tweeting them for the evening. If they insist on voting, I will vote no because it spends to much and thereās just too little time to read the bill and let everyone know whatās actually in it.
Thanks for sticking with me.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 23, 2018
Victory for conservatives today is that all of America now knows what a budget busting bomb this bill is. Hopefully, todayās battle will embolden conservatives to descend on Congress and demand Constitutional government.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 23, 2018
Senator Paul also appeared on Fox Newsā Tucker Carlson show on Thursday night to explain why he remains opposed to this monstrosity of a bill.
Joined @TuckerCarlson earlier tonight to talk about the $1.3 trillion omnibus:https://t.co/uJsxt1KU8c
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 23, 2018
Article posted with permission from Constitution.com
Become an insider!
Sign up to get breaking alerts from Sons of Liberty Media.