Free Republic

Democratic California Rep. Zoe Lofgren earmarked $2 million in federal taxpayer money for the renovation and relocation of a Planned Parenthood clinic in the omnibus spending bill currently working its way through Congress, according to analysis of the federal government’s budget by Open the Books. Members of Congress sometimes agree to vote for a spending bill under the condition that it includes funding for an unrelated cause or project they’re interested in in a process known as earmarking. The omnibus bill for the federal government’s 2023 budget includes $2 million for a Planned Parenthood clinic at the request of Lofgren,...

The U.S. Senate on Dec. 15 passed a one-week spending bill to keep the government open as negotiations over a larger spending bill for fiscal year 2023 continue.The bill, known in legislative parlance as a “continuing resolution,” passed the upper chamber in a 71-19 vote.The passage of the bill came less than 36 hours before the government was set to shut down.The short-term measure gives lawmakers more time to work out the details of a larger omnibus spending package for FY 2023. However, such a measure could face trouble in passing.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has expressed openness to...

The bill is 2,700 pages – the length of ten books.Congress had less than one day to read the bill before they voted. President Biden has already signed off — a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill. Magic!Do we really have a representative republic if our representatives don't even know what they are voting on?Here are just a few examples of what was in the bill: $1 million for a “farm-to-refrigerator training facility” in Pennsylvania$2 million for George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change$2.5 million for a museum in Vermont.$3 million for a fisherman’s coop facility in GuamThese examples represent only...

The Senate passed a massive bill to fund the government and provide new Ukraine-related aid, sending the 2,741-page bill to President Biden’s desk. Senators voted 68-31 on the bill, which includes $1.5 trillion in government funding and $13.6 billion in aid tied to Ukraine. The bill moved at lightning speed through Congress, passing the House less than 24 hours after it was unveiled early Wednesday morning. The Senate’s vote comes less than two days after the bill was introduced. The Senate also passed by voice vote a days-long continuing resolution to buy time to get the massive legislation, which funds...

I know there’s a lot going on in the world today, but can we just take a moment to reflect on how crazy it is that the United States House of Representatives just passed a $1.5 TRILLION spending bill that no one has read?The House passed an expansive $1.5 trillion spending bill on Wednesday night that includes funding for the government through the end of the fiscal year…So that piddling, measly $1.5 trillion isn’t the full budget, it’s just through the end of the fiscal year, which is to say September 30. That’s more than Ronald Reagan’s first two budgets...

Late last night and as Rebecca reported, Congress passed a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package. It clocked in at 2,741 pages, which lawmakers didn't have a chance to read before voting. As usual, the bill is packed with non-essential, pet projects funded by the American taxpayer. Just tipsy skimming through the omnibus.$200,000,000 for the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund$50,000,000 for the Women’s Leadership Fund.We are thirty f**king trillion dollars in debt pic.twitter.com/9ZRKTFUudq— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) March 10, 2022Help me understand this one....the Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection fees get hit by COVID.And therefore taxpayers have to give them a $250...

...On Fox News on Sunday, Manchin said, “If I can’t go home and explain it to the people of West Virginia, I can’t vote for it. I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything possible, I can’t get there.” “This is a no on this legislation,” he added. White House Press Secretary Psaki admonished Manchin for his announcement. In an interview with radio host Hoppy Kercheval on West Virginia MetroNews on Tuesday, Manchin blamed the White House for his opposition to Build Back Better. Manchin said that the issue from the White...

As you dig into your expensive turkey after having spent a ton of cash filling up your SUV to get to grandma’s for Thanksgiving dinner, take heart. We’re winning. Yeah, I know – conservatives are Eeyore/Cure fan centaurs, always ready to see the despair, always ready to detect the doom coming at us. And let’s not sugar-coat it – there’s a lot of bad stuff going on. Our alleged president is only allegedly mentally competent. His understudy is a half-wit who got with Montel Williams. His party wants to spend trillions we don’t have and is convinced that printing more...

Happy Thanksgiving! But beware the "tragedy of the commons." It almost killed off the pilgrims. Now, via Washington, D.C., it's probably coming for us. Tragedy of the commons is a concept from an essay by ecologist Garrett Hardin. He wrote how cattle ranchers sharing a common parcel of land soon destroy that land. That's because each rancher has an incentive to put cattle on the common. Soon, the extra animals eat all the grass. Shared grazing space is destroyed because no rancher has an incentive to conserve. If the ranchers put up a few fences and divide the land, each...

The social spending bill approved by the House Friday in a 220-213 vote includes the most extensive immigration reform package reviewed by Congress in 35 years, albeit in a much reduced version from what proponents originally sought. If the provision is approved by the Senate as-is, the immigration measure in the bill would allow undocumented people present in the U.S. since before 2011 up to 10 years of work authorization, falling short of an initial goal to offer them a pathway to citizenship. The provision approved by the House offers a sort of waiver to immigration laws, using a process...

The Build Back Better Act now proceeds for consideration in the Senate, where the Democrats hold a razor-thin majority

Guess this was one tax hike that hit too close to home for Nancy Pelosi. The speaker of the House of Representatives — who is reportedly the sixth-wealthiest member of Congress at over $100 million — took issue late last month with plans by fellow Democrats to levy a tax on unrealized capital gains to help pay for President Biden’s massive $1.75 trillion social spending bill, according to a report. The California Democrat reportedly described the wealth tax as “a publicity stunt.”

The Build Back Better Act, or the Democrats’ social and environmental spending bill, includes financial incentives for state and local entities to change zoning laws, specifically those that would replace single-family homes with multi-unit properties to provide more “affordable housing.” Those financial incentives would come in the form of tax-payer-funded grants and tax credits. On page 815 of the 2,468-page, $1.75 trillion bill, it reads: The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall establish a competitive grant program for— (1) planning grants to develop and evaluate housing policy plans and substantially improve housing strategies; (2) streamlining regulatory requirements and shorten...

Editor's note: This piece was authored by Caleb Ashley.When Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary after an ultimately futile assault against the Democrat establishment, no one could’ve imagined he’d be a loyal foot soldier focused on party loyalty six years later. Right now, Sanders is leading negotiations with other Democrats to ensure his climate and health care priorities remain in the Democrat’s $1.75 trillion dollar spending bill, but there’s little doubt Sanders will ultimately support the bill. This isn't not how it used to be. But Sanders' transformation from outsider to enforcer of Democrat purity...

This summer, the Biden administration had a plan for withdrawing from Afghanistan: Pull all of our troops out by a date certain and trust that the Taliban would play nice and all would go smoothly. Apparently, they never really had a Plan B. We know how that turned out. The president’s allies in Congress seemingly drew a lesson from that debacle and appear determined not to get caught short when it comes to what seems like the Democrats’ single greatest political priority: gaining amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. After seeing Plans A and B dashed by Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth...

Negotiations in Washington continue on how to pare down the $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend reconciliation bill to a point where it’s acceptable to both hyper progressive and blue dog Democrats. As such, some of the more egregious taxes and spending items are reportedly being stripped out of the new text during talks. Unfortunately, it does not appear that the idea of a wealth tax is on the chopping block. This is a shame considering the proposal would hamper investment and is almost certainly unconstitutional. While the proposal that will make its way into the final text is not the same as...

For CNN, there's only one perspective on big government: bigger is better! On New Day, the hosts and panelists could only see the positives of a $1.7 trillion spending bill, and could only hope for more. The liberal media can't conceive that some Americans actually still believe in individual liberty and self-reliance, and reject cradle-to-grave government "help" [read, intrusion] into our lives. Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Democrats are quarreling over the price tag of their Build Back Better bill, but the real problem is what's in it. The bill coerces workers to join unions, imposes racial preferences on every facet of life and redistributes money from workers to takers. Fortunately, this bill is in limbo. Moderate Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin insist the bill has to be pared down to less than half its current price tag. The far left is screaming in outrage. But the bill can't pass without every Senate Democrat supporting it. Not passing it would be the best outcome. This bill...

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Tuesday he is open to a social spending bill larger than $1.5 trillion, signaling the possibility that the moderate Democrat could soften his stance on the topline number following days of tense negotiations on President Biden’s signature piece of legislation.