Refusing To Let The Newly-Elected Congress Do Their Job

According to the U.S. Constitution, spending bills initiate in the U.S. House of Representatives. There is a specific budget process (that has been ignored since 2007) that is supposed to be followed. There is also a new Republican majority  in the House of Representatives that will be seated in January. Theoretically, they would be the ones to set the budget for the coming fiscal year. They were elected in the hope that they would put the brakes on the runaway spending of the Biden administration. That’s one of many reasons Republicans won the House. Republicans did not take the Senate. One of the reasons for that may be found in the actions of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Aside from directing funding away from candidates who might not have supported him, his voting record is questionable at best. Right now he is part of a group of Senators working to pass a spending bill that will usurp the power of the incoming House of Representatives.

On Tuesday morning, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is threatening to tank the legislation of Senate Republicans who back the omnibus spending bill being considered this week, setting up a showdown with his counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Bills from Republican senators, including McConnell himself, will be “dead on arrival” in the House under his speakership, McCarthy warned, throwing his weight behind a letter signed by 13 Republicans in the House vowing to whip against legislation from lawmakers who cast a “yes” vote later this week on the spending bill.

I totally support Representative McCarthy on this move.

The article continues:

McCarthy has publicly pressed McConnell to change course on the omnibus, but a conservative flank in the House wants McCarthy to go further and “declare war” on McConnell-backed bills if he votes for the $1.7 trillion spending bill. McCarthy is currently seeking to court a handful of defections within his conference that threaten to derail his speakership bid, given the narrow 222-seat majority House Republicans will have in January.

The group of 13 congressmen is demanding the Senate “refrain from entertaining any spending bill that extends beyond the first few months” of the new year so that the GOP can negotiate a budget when it has control of the lower chamber.

“We are obliged to inform you that if any omnibus passes in the remaining days of this Congress, we will oppose and whip opposition to any legislative priority of those senators who vote for this bill — including the Republican leader,” the Monday letter sent to GOP senators said.

“Senate Republicans have the 41 votes necessary to stop this and should do so now and show the Americans who elected you that they weren’t wrong in doing so,” the letter continued. “This slated omnibus spending bill is an indefensible assault on the American people. It is an assault on the separation of powers. It is an assault on fiscal responsibility. It is an assault on basic civic decency.”

If this bill is not stopped, then there is no reason to vote for a Republican. They are as tone-deaf to the wishes of the American people as the Democrats.