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.
Absolutely, he’ll be SOSA - Same Old Shit Again!
“C’mon Lucy, don’t move the ball this time, OK?”
I am very disappointed. White House says he plans to sign it.
It looks like our representatives are going to pass us by again. :-(
President Trump needs to VETO this bill.
This bill is unacceptable. End of Story.
They want to lose.
Over.
Look at the crap we’ve been running lately, meh...
“..sleeping...90% of the careerist beltway GOPe does not support the MAGA agenda.
That was the point I was trying to make. The President deserve to have congressmen voted in (in the midterm) who will support his agenda.
type - President deserves
Cantorization now!
For as long as I've been on FR (1998 ....) they've been called "the Stupid Party."
I wish I could remember who tagged them with that. Wasn't me.
Here’s the problem with the ‘Stupid Party’ monicker:
It’s better to be stupid and filthy rich (as in hand golden plums to family and friends using insider information) than smart and poor.
Why do you think they spent so much on the campaign?
The GOP is far, far worse that the left. The left is honest about who they are. The right isn’t.
Cuck isn’t even a good word for them. Slavers is better. They get elected and then SELL us into slavery to ever interest willing to pad a family members book of business.
THIS is why both parties hate Trump. He’s threatening their livelihood.
It’s almost like they want to hand over control to the Democrats. If they had to script a way to do it, this would be it. Idiots.
I really didn't have to read any further than this statement right here. You and I are in perfect agreement.
I hate the Democrat party, period. I hate what they stand for, I hate what they do to America when they're in power, I hate everything about them. Period. I will however give them credit. When they say "elect us and we'll give you healthcare!" by God, they passed "healthcare" and did what they said they would.
I hate the Republican's worse! Those filthy rotten bastards say "elect us and we'll eliminate Obamacare!" What'd they do? We still have Obamacare. We still have full funding for Planned Parenthood. We still have everything the Democrats did and those filthy rotten bastards in Congress have thwarted President Trump's agenda at nearly every turn. With the exception of tax cuts (which personally screwed me living in a high tax state, but I digress....) the Republicans in the House and Senate are just biding their time until the Democrats get the House back in November so they can impeach our President.
As bad as I hate the Democrats, the Republicans deserve nothing short of tarring, feathering, and hanging from trees in Washington D.C. I say that in the spirit of the Founding Fathers who tolerated far, far, FAR less than these bastards do in Congress every damn' day.
When we're done with the Republican's, the Democrats are next, followed by the lying liberal lamestream media and then the judiciary.
I'm telling you, this country needs a big REBOOT which only happens when every filthy rotten one of these bastards takes a dirt nap and we start over.
Great. Now you got me wound up. My heart is pounding, breath is short and I'm checking for pain down my left arm ....... see what you did?!
There's no "almost like they want to" about it. They're actively screwing up on purpose in order to hand control to the Democrats because they're too STUPID to know what to do when they're in power.
If I were to wake up tomorrow and learn that every single filthy Republican and Democrat had magically perished overnight (except for PDJT...) I'd be the happiest guy on the planet. Almost like winning a $500,000,000 powerball lottery!
That post right there is genius. Love your analogy and I’m going to use that. Well done!
My FRiend I am sorry.
I just think we need to be honest about the situation. The GOP being in control of the house doesn’t mean anything. Frankly, I believe the strategy for the GOP is to give up control. It’s the only way to stop Trump and have people believe they had nothing to do with it.
Ryan made an ad buy AGAINST the GOP guy in the PA race. Pure evil.
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