Senate Passes Monstrous $1.7 Trillion Spending Bill...With a Backup?

The U.S. Senate voted 68-29 Thursday to pass the monstrous $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill under the guise of "avoiding a government shutdown" and a rush for lawmakers to make it home for Christmas. The legislation now goes to the House, where it is expected to pass.

B) The Senate will pass the omnibus today. The House, later today or tomorrow.

But…

It will take the House a while to enroll and engross the final version of the bill for the President to sign.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 22, 2022

Republicans who voted against the bill are not pleased.

“Democrats have expanded the size of our federal government to a point we can no longer afford. Because of the piecemeal way Congress has approached funding the government over the past two decades, we are forced to consider massive budgets at the last minute. This makes oversight of spending nearly impossible — and worsens inflation that’s crushing working families. Americans have to live within their means while Congress burns money we don’t have," Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville released in a statement. "I opposed the omnibus because Congress should be responsible enough to spend no more than we can afford, just as Americans do every day.”

The text of the 4,155 page legislation was released two days ago, giving Senators wholly inadequate time to read it. For days, Republican Senators Rand Paul, Mike Lee and others have been blasting the process.

"Opposing this legislation isn't radical. Running our government this way, is, and it's indefensible," Republican Mike Lee said on the Senate floor. "This act, this bill before us, is an act of legislative barbarism. This is an act of extortion being leveraged on the United States Senate right before Christmas. Make no mistake why this happened. This bill in all 4,155 pages of its glory, or infamy, was negotiated in secret by four or five members of Congress, excluding all others, which means that nearly 330 million Americans were disenfranchised in the production of this legislative behemoth. They wrote it utterly in secret with the design of creating an artificial emergency. Threatening a shut down right before Christmas."

It has become far too easy for Congress to escape its own rules designed to prevent reckless spending. So today I made a Budget Point of Order against this 4,155-page, $1.7 trillion spending package that we received at 1:30 in the morning on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/WUbcGO0JgU
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 22, 2022

I’m disappointed in some of my fellow Republicans, who voted against respecting the taxpayers and for empowering themselves to spend your money with reckless abandon.
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 22, 2022