Posted on 03/22/2018 11:04:15 AM PDT by Sopater
Republicans rolled out a two-thousand-page-plus omnibus spending bill Wednesday night, which they expect to pass by Friday's deadline, giving no one any real chance to read it.
And while there is much in it for Democrats to like, there is much for conservatives to oppose, as Republicans ignore campaign promises to limit spending and grow government instead.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, appeared on Fox News around 10 o'clock last night, telling host Laura Ingraham that he's read only about 200 pages of the 2,232-page bill, and "this is not about draining the swamp," he said.
"I mean, we continue to fund sanctuary cities. We continue to fund Planned Parenthood. We don't build the wall, but yet we put money in for a tunnel. The last time I checked, when the president was campaigning, he wasn't campaigning for a tunnel between New Jersey and New York. It was campaigning about a border wall on our southern border, and so, you know, there's a lot to be disappointed. We're still going through this. But I'm not very optimistic there will be conservative wins in this."
The New York-New Jersey tunnel is the pet project of New York-area Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan told "Fox & Friends" it's up to the Trump administration to decide whether New York gets the money for the tunnel. But an aide to Chuck Schumer told The Associated Press the tunnel is likely to get more than half of the the $900-million sought for the project this year.
Appearing with Meadows, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, was smiling. He said the bill funds "a lot of shared priorities," including military and domestic programs. He pointed to funding for the opioid crisis, the National Institutes of Health, and veterans.
"I'm hopeful that we can come to a compromise by tomorrow," Krishnamoorthi said.
Meadows said the fact that Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat, was smiling is a problem:
"Here's one of the interesting things. Yes, we'll end up with a trillion dollar deficit that probably will come out in October of this year, trillion-dollars-plus. But here's the other interesting thing. You don't have to read the fine print to understand that we're going to grow the size of government by 12 to 13 percent. So When you're looking at that kind of growth, I don't know that his (Krishnamoorthi's) district or my district, anybody back home saw a 13 percent increase in their wages but yet we're somehow going to give government a raise like that?" Meadows asked.
"Here's the other problem, Laura, is this. We have a Republican-controlled House. We have a Republican-controlled Senate. And we have a Republican in the White House. And we have a Democrat here tonight saying how great this bill is. There is a problem there when you have that."
"This is a good deal for Democrats," Ingraham agreed.
Krishnamoorthi said if the bill rebuilds military programs, he's happy.
"Maybe we should think about that next time we commit our troops to some godforsaken country," Ingraham interjected. "Maybe we should think about what it's going to cost before we commit our troops again to another multiple deployment intervention."
Meadows said, "If we wanted to fund the military, why didn't we just put forth the funds to fund the military and deal with the nondefense discretionary (spending) separate. But somehow we put them together so that we grow the size of government. That's the problem."
Ingraham noted that Republicans have broken their promise to give the American people and lawmakers three days to read the bill. "I would say 98 percent of them, and I'm being charitable, will not have read this," she said. "And we're going to have to pass it to see what's in it. We're back in that stage." Ingraham said Congress should return to regular order.
Krishnamoorthi agreed: "I'm really disappointed that Speaker Ryan didn't present us with this particular bill sooner than tonight. We need regular order around here so -- I'm rank and file, I'm not leadership. I don't run the trains around here. All I can say is, I need more time to read through this thing. I'd like to work with people like Congressman Meadows and make it a better bill. But if the choice is not funding the troops, not taking care of the veterans, not taking care of the opioid crisis, and a shutdown, I can't do that," Krishnamoorthi said.
Ingraham noted that the Republican leadership is putting Krishnamoorthi and all lawmakers in that position: "And it's the way Washington works. It's like, you gotta do what you gotta do, you gotta pass it because otherwise the troops aren't going to get--it's just ridiculous! We cannot do this to the American taxpayers and our future generations," Ingraham said, concluding the interview.
Funding the Democrats for the next Election because they’re completely Broke
I love President Trump and all that he has so quickly accomplished as our president. It pains me to say this, but if Trump doesn’t Veto this POS, he is over, done, and no longer going to be seen as MAGA.
They're doing an excellent job of it.
“...GOP deserves to lose control of Congress...”
Maybe they deserve it but the President deserves to have congressmen voted in who will support his agenda.
I think they are doing it deliberately. I think the monied classes that control Washington *HATE* Trump, and so the order has gone out to their lackeys to give Democrats control so that they can impeach Trump.
Trump is a threat to the big monied interests who control Washington in the same way that Teddy Roosevelt turned out to be a threat against those same Monopolistic Robber Barons.
The Nation is controlled mostly by New York and what those Billionaire Donors want.
The Washington GOP elite have just attempted to commit political suicide of their House and Senate majority by acts sure to severely depress their own party turnout in November, by placing huge differences in priorities between what they are doing and what they were elected by their base to do.
I am not taking the reaction that THEY are “the GOP”. They are not. They may have the label but too many of them in Washington are there representing themselves and not the true GOP - the millions of registered GOP voters. It is those GOP voters that are “the GOP”.
OUR public stance must be NOT to lay down and surrender the GOP to those liars in Washington D.C. claiming to represent it.
All the rest of this year we have to demonstrate we are worthy of our goals by fighting for them, by fighting in all the primaries between now and November for a whole new cast of GOP candidates WE get behind; we put our time and money where OUR beliefs are.
Many of these same republicrats will be running for re-election as republicans in November.
They will be campaigning on the promise to cut spending, repeal O’Dumbo-Kare and provide money for the border wall.
Hell - why not?
It’s always worked before.
So that the monied Interests of the North East (mostly New York) can keep people from realizing that we are watching a sock puppet show that does what New York wants, but appears to the gullible as "Democracy".
Exactly what I am thinking. The activities of Republicans in congress appear to be designed to deliberately throw away their majority so that a Democrat majority can impeach this guy which is what the Wealthy Monied Interests controlling Washington DC want to happen.
Trump is a threat to the Plutocrats interests, and therefore he must be removed.
They will. That is the plan.
This is so true
The NYC DC swamp money pit controls all
As my vote is meaningless, I do not see a reason to ever vote again.
The lying, spineless, RINO bastards can all go to hell.
I started realizing this in 1992 when the entire media conspired to elect Bill Clinton. I got another hint in 1995 when I noticed the entire media was against balancing the budget.
The Media system is controlled from New York, and it serves the interests of those people who get a lot of their wealth from government spending and government policy.
The media does what it's masters want it to do.
The nation is actually run by the Washington/New York corridor, with Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago "elite" having input.
This is the most likely explanation. Razor.
If this gets through the Senate and the president signs it, the party is over. I hope the President sees this coming.
Like others have said here. I love our president and what he has done for our country but I feel certain if this bill passes Nancy Pelosi is the next speaker of the house and MAGA will be over.
Don't forget there is GUN CONTROL in this bill. No matter what the significance of it is it won't matter there is simply NO REASON to be enacting any gun legislation whatsoever. 2nd Amendment supporters will not vote in November making it impossible to retain the majority.
I really hope the President knows something in that this bill will die in the Senate. Otherwise the only way to save his Presidency would be to Veto.
the LA axis of evil gives them acting lessons
We’re for the poooooor! Etc
Maybe they deserve it but the President deserves to have congressmen voted in who will support his agenda.
Sorry, You must have been sleeping. 90% of the careerist beltway GOPe does not support the MAGA agenda. We need lions and we got lambs.
“Show me one time in 8 years the Congressional Dems substantively opposed the Kenyan on a major issue.”
Show me one time the Congressional Dims, Obama and the Dim base were NOT on the same page. They were - all three parts - always on the same page.
Your comparison is an apples and oranges comparison.
It is not a call for “the GOP” to be “burned to the ground”. That is no different than saying the GOP elite in Washington IS “the GOP”, they aren’t. You can dam well be sure that if the Pelosi Congress and Obama were not on the same page as the Dim base, the reaction in the Dim base would NOT be to “burn the Democrat party down. The Dim base would go out and take the party back from them, NOT abandon and destroy the party.
To me, your reaction is EXACTLY what the Dims WANT to see the GOP base react with - not fight, just surrender the national political turf to them.
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