GOP, Dems pass massive spending measures

Northwoods U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany joined other fiscal conservatives this past month in voting against two massive “minibus” spending bills, but they passed anyway as the GOP House leadership helped Democrats push the measures across the finish line.

With the Republicans clinging to a razor thin majority in the House, leaders in both parties have increasingly coalesced around a uni-party agenda backed by the Biden administration and characterized by strong bipartisan votes. As such, the passage of the minibus bills avoided a government shutdown, but they enraged fiscal hawks in the House and prompted most Republicans to vote against the bills.

The two measures split 12 spending bills into two six-bill packages. The first, for $469 billion, passed in early March, cruised through the Senate and was signed by Biden; the second, for $1.2 trillion, passed last week and sailed through the Senate and was also signed by the president.

The passage of the latter bill in the House triggered a potential effort to oust GOP speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), just months after former speaker Kevin McCarthy was booted for the same heresy. After the vote on the second package passed, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) filed a motion to vacate the office, saying Johnson has “handed over every ounce of negotiating power” to Senate Democrats.

“Republicans had the power of the purse,” Greene said. “This was our power. This was our leverage. This was our chance to secure the border, and he didn’t do it.”

Greene said she had no definitive timeline to bring the motion to the floor, and the House was headed for a two-week Easter break.

“I filed the motion to vacate today, but it’s more of a warning than a pink slip,” Greene said. “I respect our conference. I paid all my dues to my conference. I’m a member in good standing, and I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and to throw the House into chaos.”

Defenders of the package, including Johnson, said the package contained major victories for conservatives, such as cuts in funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), a 6-percent reduction in overall foreign aid, and a ban preventing the State Department from flying non-official flags at diplomatic facilities.

But conservatives said many of the victories were symbolic with no practical effect. On the first package of bills, which included agriculture, veterans affairs, energy, and transportation, Tiffany (R-Wisconsin) said the legislation promoted the status quo.

“The American people expect Congress to push back on Biden administration policies and unsustainable spending that are making our neighborhoods less safe while piling more debt on to our children and grandchildren,” Tiffany said. “Instead of putting an end to the destructive Washington status quo, this bill perpetuates it.”

Tiffany observed that the bill did not include provisions to delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act as the original House-passed appropriations act did. 

“Wisconsin farmers, sportsmen, and pet owners have had to deal with the consequences of an unmanaged gray wolf population for far too long,” he said. “It’s past time for the federal government to get out of the way and allow states, like Wisconsin, to manage their gray wolf population.” 

Tiffany was just as critical of the second measure.

“The Biden administration’s policies are jeopardizing the safety of our neighborhoods and burdening future generations with debt,” he said. “Instead of cutting spending and reversing course, this $1.2 trillion package funds Biden’s border crisis, a new headquarters for an FBI that has been weaponized against the American people, and the corrupt World Health Organization.” 

Other critics pointed out that the bill excluded border enforcement measures Republicans had originally demanded, and included a $1 billion increase for climate and green energy programs.

The second package, which funds three-quarters of the federal government through September, passed by a vote of 286 to 134, with 112 Republicans opposed and 101 Republicans joining 185 Democrats in support.

Other conservatives denounce majority

Another Republican vote against the spending packages was Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, who told Fox News the spending was insane.

“Would anybody do this for a car, for a house, for a toaster for that matter?” Norman asked. “It’s insanity at its height, and it’s just a further deterioration of this country if we signed, if we pass this bill just because of the threat of a shutdown. I’m very disappointed with this. I do not understand it … Other people that are not even in the Freedom Caucus, I think, are scratching their heads on this.”

Other critics, such as Heritage Action, a conservative grassroots organization, observed that the bill was released only the day before the vote was scheduled. Indeed, the 1,012-page federal spending bill was released close to 3 a.m.

“In the middle of the night, Congress released the text of a $1.2 trillion, earmark-filled spending bill that bankrolls sanctuary cities, corrupt NGOs, and Biden’s open border policies,” Heritage Action president Dr. Kevin Roberts said. “Lawmakers are using arbitrary deadlines and shutdown politics to extort the American people and force lawmakers to vote for a bill they don’t have time to read. The text may have been dropped under the cover of darkness, but nothing can hide the bill’s unbelievable abuse of taxpayer dollars and continuation of Biden’s dangerous border crisis.”

Roberts said that conservatives were told that the days of omnibus spending bills shrouded in secrecy were over. 

“But this process and the bill it produced are indistinguishable from typical Swamp behavior that’s taken our economy and country to the brink of disaster,” he said. “If we want to change Washington, we have to start by breaking this cycle and rejecting this indefensible bill.”

Roberts said the bill did not curb federal spending, but that it did use billions in budget gimmicks to blow past spending limits established in legislation last year to force taxpayers to fund $1.9 billion in congressional earmarks.

Those earmarks include $400,000 for an organization that gives out “transition” clothing for minors in Wisconsin; $2 million+ for equipment at facilities performing abortions; $1 million for “Amplify Latinx” business groups in Massachusetts; $850,000 for LGBTQ senior housing services and programming in Massachusetts; and $740,000 to “increase diversity” in state contracts in Maryland.

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.