Summary
Congress is approaching yet another of its self-imposed funding deadlines to keep the federal government “open.” Having passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) in February, Congress now faces a March 11 deadline to pass its “omnibus” bill or enact yet another CR to keep the federal government operating on autopilot.
These negotiations have been complicated by new efforts to include supplemental funding for Ukraine, disaster relief, and another COVID package. It remains to be seen whether any or all of those additional measures will be attached to a discretionary spending package potentially exceeding $1.5 trillion.
As of this writing, the final text of the bill has not been made public, so details on specific spending levels and supplemental items remain in flux. However, none of the current scenarios being negotiated would alleviate the ten egregious issues identified below.
1) Reckless Spending Perpetuating Inflation
The omnibus’ negotiated spending levels have not been disclosed. However, extrapolating from the previous level set by the House of Representatives during the appropriations process, it is likely to set budget authority at $1.5 trillion for the rest of the fiscal year. That would mean an increase of 16 percent – $208 billion – from Fiscal Year 2021 spending levels. Though final budget figures have not been released and full budget analysis has not been enacted, it is anticipated that new outlays in this bill could add over $2.6 trillion to the nation’s rapidly-increasing deficits over the 10-year budget window.
This comes as inflation is accelerating to 7.5 percent and climbing.
2) Funding Vaccine Mandates
The omnibus continues funding for the Biden administration’s mandate on healthcare workers, federal employees, Border Patrol agents, and U.S. military service members to be vaccinated or lose their jobs.
3) Fueling Our Adversaries’ Aggression
The omnibus continues the Biden administration’s war on American energy independence amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the looming threat of communist China. The bill maintains funding for policies that freeze oil and gas development and permitting, stagnate liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits, discontinue the development of key pipelines such as Keystone XL, and perpetuate a green energy charade that is costly, unreliable, and empowers our enemies in Moscow and Beijing.
4) Treating Concerned Parents as Domestic Terrorists
The omnibus continues the Biden administration’s war on American parents. The Department of Justice (DOJ), helmed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, continues its efforts to target and monitor parents concerned about the perpetuation of radicalism in our nation’s schools. The task force implemented at the behest of the National School Board Association to cast parents as “domestic terrorists” remains operational and funded.
5) Funding Partisan Get-Out-The-Vote Efforts
The omnibus continues the Biden administration’s efforts to undermine the integrity of our elections. The bill continues support for Biden’s Executive Order No. 14019 directing every federal agency to develop a “plan” for voter registration and, ominously, voter mobilization. Despite hundreds of FOIA requests for the details of these plans, the administration has refused to follow the law and provide information on what agencies have done. The status quo empowers federal bureaucrats to work with liberal nonprofit organizations to nationalize voter mobilization efforts for the benefit of the Democratic Party using taxpayer money to further undermine the integrity of our elections.
6) Perpetuating State Sanctioned Racism
The omnibus continues the Biden administration’s effort to spread Marxist-inspired Critical Race Theory (CRT) and related practices throughout the federal government. The bill perpetuates the administration-sponsored practice of using federal agency funds to partner with far-left “diversity” consultants who profit from the promotion and implementation of CRT, “equity audits,” “anti-racism” training, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
7) Continuing Surveillance on American Citizens
The omnibus continues the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) unlawful surveillance of American citizens. The recent discovery of the CIA’s mass surveillance and data collection activities is an alarming reminder that America’s intelligence agencies continue to disregard the Fourth Amendment rights of the citizens they are supposed to protect.
8) Funding Abortions and Fetal Tissue Harvesting
The omnibus continues the Biden administration’s war on the unborn with hundreds of millions of dollars in continued taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. The bill also continues support for the reinstatement of federally-sponsored fetal tissue harvesting, a practice the Biden administration reinstated last year after removing Trump-era restrictions and ethical reviews.
9) Releasing Illegal Immigrants in Suburbs
The omnibus continues the Biden administration’s open borders policies and willful negligence to secure the U.S. southern border. Specifically, the bill continues funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “night flights” wherein agents move thousands of illegal immigrants to communities under the cover of darkness, paid for by the taxpayers whose security is endangered. The bill continues funding for policies that have ended the emergency declaration at the border, stopped the construction of the border wall, overturned the safe third country asylum protocols, and falsely demonized border agents for simply doing their job.
10) Maintaining Dangerous Policy on Afghan Refugee Vetting
The omnibus funding bill continues the Biden administration’s dangerous Afghan refugee policies. The bill continues support for DHS efforts to abuse “parole authority” to bring in undefined numbers of Afghan nationals and refugees following the administration’s calamitous withdrawal from Afghanistan. This is despite official DOD reports that some refugees present potential security threats, including known child predators among those who have entered the United States from Afghanistan.
Conclusion
The omnibus funding bill is both a fiscal and policy disaster. The bill continues or rewards federal agencies and efforts that are actively waging war on the American people in myriad facets of their lives. The Biden administration is using the federal government to harm America’s national security, uproot domestic tranquility, and empower America’s enemies. This bill funds all those efforts. Americans will rightly conclude that a lawmaker who votes in favor of this bill is a lawmaker in favor of continuing Washington’s war against them.
Read Original Article on CitizensRenewingAmerica.com
Ten Good Reasons to Oppose the Omnibus Spending Bill on RedState.com
