In one of their last moves while still in control of the House of Representatives, Democratic lawmakers pushed through a bloated stopgap spending bill just as Congress is set to adjourn for the holidays.
A number of prominent Republicans spoke out forcefully against the effort, noting that the $1.7 trillion, 4,155-page bill was designed to be rammed through the legislature at the last minute without rank-and-file lawmakers having an opportunity to discern what is included in it.
I wonder how long it would take the clerk to read this… pic.twitter.com/iaphBzTEsS
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 20, 2022
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is engaged in a bitter intraparty battle to become the chamber’s next speaker, expounded on his opposition to the process in a Fox News Channel interview on Tuesday.
He told host Laura Ingraham that Democrats “moved a continuing resolution until right before Christmas” and are “trying to pass this where nobody can read it.”
Furthermore, McCarthy lamented that two outgoing Democratic senators were instrumental in advancing the bill just days before their congressional terms end.
“Then they’re going to have the House of Representatives tell them you can’t leave for Christmas until you vote on this,” he said. “Well, you know what? The American people are smarter than this. The American people understand; they want to stop wasting money causing more inflation. They want to have a say in this process.”
For his part, the GOP leader signaled his dedication to reversing the trend of passing such omnibus spending bills at the last minute.
“When we take the majority, we won’t allow the Senate bills to come up unless they move through committee,” McCarthy vowed. “We won’t allow them to do an omnibus again.”
As for his party’s slim majority in the upcoming legislative session, he asserted that House Republicans must be in a position to put forward a spending bill “in the beginning of next year where we can save and eliminate waste, but actually save money for the taxpayer as well.”
In addition to GOP backlash against Democrats, several Republicans have criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for tacitly supporting the bill’s advancement through the upper chamber.
“Mitch McConnell is the reason Democrats are on the verge of passing a huge TRILLION dollar Democrat-controlled Omnibus spending bill in the late hours of this lame duck session,” tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Wednesday. “McConnell should only agree to a short-term [continuing resolution] into ’23 to allow the Republican-controlled House to make the appropriations bills next year.”
