Christmas is just around the corner, and everyone is excited to hopefully make it home despite the looming ‘bomb cyclone,’ which sounds more like the name of a tasty alcoholic beverage at Applebees as opposed to a terrifying winter storm.
This season is filled with so many traditions, most of which are lovely. Still, one, in particular is terrible and is the worst this year than any year before.
I’m, of course, speaking of Congress’ new tradition of ramming through massive spending bills no one reads. This year’s monstrosity dropped on Monday night with the expectation that it will pass before this week is over.
I mean, of course, we wouldn’t want our lawmakers not to be able to go home and enjoy Christmas! What kind of Christmas spirit would we have if we expected our elected lawmakers to, you know, do their job?
WATCH: @RandPaul prints out every page of the $1.7 trillion, 4,000-page omnibus spending bill and exposes the corruption happening in Congress right nowpic.twitter.com/7ZrLG1bUtM
— Young Americans for Liberty (@YALiberty) December 20, 2022
Just Say No
I enjoy people who put a wrench in the system, mainly if it’s a system perpetuated by the government. We should expect our elected leaders to be wrench throwers; it’s a way to ensure that what is being passed in Congress is sound and put some accountability on these clowns who claim they fight for us.
Senator Rand Paul is a wrench thrower, and I love him for it. He came out yesterday and said unequivocally that he would be saying no to the omnibus bill.
This bill he is against is a whopping 4,155 pages and includes $1.65 trillion worth of spending. Congressman Dan Bishop explained that to read the entire bill, you’d have to read a little over four pages per minute for 16 hours straight without a break.
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Of course, reading it that fast would be a fruitless endeavor, anyhow. The smartest person on the planet couldn’t retain that information, or be able to look up the thousands of existing laws that are being changed.
The omnibus was released around 2am today. The Senate is voting now to begin debate on the bill.
To have read the entire bill by now, you would’ve needed to read 4+ pages per minute, without a single break, for 16 hours straight.
What a farce.
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) December 20, 2022
Most of our elected leaders on both the right and the left will vote for this bill without having read it. Incredibly, these people get a salary without having to read what they put their names to.
So let’s take a peek at what is in this bill we all get to pay for with our taxes.
What A Shopping List
Twitter had a lot of great threads last night regarding the omnibus, but perhaps the one that takes the cake comes from Congressman Bishop. Please check it out; it’s equal parts funny and depressing.
Some items he pointed out included ridiculous pieces such as $3 million for “bee-friendly highways.” Nobody in DC knows what that means; I don’t know what that means; nobody knows what that means.
No doubt that money will go to some pointless environmental special interest group that is a subsidiary of a larger group that I bet donated significant funds to whoever slid that gem in there.
🐝 $3 million for bee-friendly highways, & another $5 million for the salmon.
Talk about a buzzkill. pic.twitter.com/PWH3Z5Cn0x
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) December 20, 2022
On a less funny note, Mr. Bishop highlighted $575 million for ‘family planning’ in “areas where population growth threatens biodiversity.” Simply put, this is your taxpayer dollars going towards services like abortions to curb our population growth in the name of environmental and animal growth.
That sounds more like a plot of a dystopian television show than something that would happen in real life, yet here we are. But if you want to know what Congress doesn’t care about, you must look at what is in the bill for our border.
Money For Them, But Not For Us
The omnibus bill prohibits funds given to the Customs and Border Patrol to “acquire, maintain or extend border security technology and capabilities.” You’d think Republicans, at a minimum, would be outraged by this.
Instead, they are running victory laps for increasing “defense” spending to record levels.
What is even more maddening is what Mr. Bishop discovered that we are spending money on:
“…at the same time, allocates $410 million towards border security for other nations, namely Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman.”
So while our porous border is about to be flooded with more illegal immigrants, our lawmakers are throwing money at other countries to secure their sovereignty. Meanwhile, down south, we are witnessing an active invasion of our country facilitated by our representatives on the left and the right.
RELATED: Border Patrol Union Warns: Biggest Border Invasion in American History Coming
And we can’t forget our international pawn in our proxy war with Russia. Ukraine predictably does very well in this bill. If you ask Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, he tells you the truth that this bill has nothing to do about helping the citizens of this country:
“Finalizing the omnibus is critical, absolutely critical for supporting our friends in Ukraine.”
So let’s examine how much Republicans will give over in this blank check.
If only Senate Republicans were as passionate about securing the border as they are giving never-ending funding to Ukraine! pic.twitter.com/Reckld632D
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 20, 2022
RELATED: Rand Paul Hammers ‘Emasculated’ Republicans For Selling Out to Democrats on Spending Deal
A Hefty Christmas Check
Ukraine predictably is getting $45 billion in aid, which will bring the overall total of assistance for this year to $100 billion. In fact, Congress is coughing up $8 billion more than the Biden administration even asked for.
Let’s take a look at some of what is entailed in this $45 billion:
- $9 billion to direct weapons and other military assistance
- $11.8 billion to replenish U.S. military stocks due to transfers to Ukraine
- $7 billion for U.S.-European command operations in support of Ukraine
The above isn’t even all-inclusive; we won’t know the full breakout until, you guessed it, the bill is passed.
Wow, well done, Republicans; you really delivered for us on that oversight and accountability. But, of course, everyone is all excited about another big event this week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is making a surprise trip to D.C. today, his first trip outside his country since the war started over 300 days ago. Gosh, I hope his Santa sack is large enough to carry all that cash back to Ukraine.
Naturally, our legislative fanboys and girls are champing to hear from the foreign leader. What a way to cap off the year. To keep legislators in the area, Nancy Pelosi sent out a letter:
“We are ending a very special session of the 117th Congress with legislation that makes progress for the American people as well as support for our democracy. Please be present for a very special focus on democracy Wednesday night.”
Wow, for the cool cost of $45 billion, we’ve purchased a fantastic night of dinner and a show for our men and women in Congress. Merry Christmas to them, I suppose.
$44.9 billion for Ukraine in the Omnibus.
$16.7 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Democrats continue to protect a foreign country’s border over our OWN.
— Rep. Tom Tiffany (@RepTiffany) December 20, 2022
We Asked For It
I hate to break it to you, dear reader, but we asked for this; in fact, we ask for it year after year.
Senator Paul said:
“The American people don’t want this, they’re sick and tired of it.”
But I’m afraid that isn’t true, no matter how much it should be. We are the ones that keep reelecting the same old politicians on the left and the right.
The worst people in politics from both parties have teamed up to demand Congress rubber-stamp a 4,155-page blank check—many times the length of the Bible.
A check for $1,700,000,000,000 of your money.
And they want it stamped before anyone can actually read it.
Sounds legit.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 20, 2022
We continue to vote for these fools who promise us change and accountability, and year after year, they give us the same as always, waste and abuse. We ask for it each time we vote for them; in a way, we suffer as a nation for a need to be hurt, like political masochists drawn to our political sadists.
I am glad Rand Paul is saying no, but it won’t make a difference, unfortunately. We are the ones that need to say no, and until we do, we will continue to pay for bee-friendly highways and proxy forever wars in far-off lands.
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