New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of the spendiest spenders in Washington, D.C., celebrated the 2,300-plus page, $1.3 trillion spending bill currently being rammed last-minute through Congress to beat the Friday deadline.
"Overall, we Democrats are very happy with what we have been able to accomplish on a number of very important priorities to the middle class in America," Schumer said Thursday. "Infrastructure, education, opioid treatment, mental health, child care. For nearly a decade, the middle class in this country has suffered from a needless and self-imposed austerity, limiting investment of all of the things that create good-paying jobs and improve the working conditions of Americans, improve the lives of Americans."
"This spending bill, this spending agreement brings that era of austerity to an unceremonious end and represents one of the most significant investments in the middle class in decades," he continued. "So again, that era of austerity which so hurt middle-class Americans is coming to an unceremonious end because this bill represents one of the most significant investments in the middle class in decades. For these reasons, I’m confident that this agreement will pass both houses of Congress, hopefully with comfortable margins, hopefully in a bipartisan way."
""I want to thank Leader McConnell, Speaker Ryan, and their staffs, leader Pelosi and her team, Chairman Cochran, Vice Chairman Leahy and the appropriations committee staff and many others for all the hard work that went into this bill," Schumer said.
The bill, which was slammed by congressional conservatives like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul as “rotten” and “terrible,” includes massive upticks in defense spending, while making no cuts to entitlement programs, providing little for border security, and continuing to fully fund sanctuary cities, Obamacare, and abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. The bill will fund the government through Sept. 30.
Fox News reports:
“Both parties touted $4.6 billion in total funding to fight the nation's opioid addiction epidemic, a $3 billion increase. Child care and development block grants would receive a huge $2.4 billion increase to $5.2 billion. And an Obama-era transportation grant program known as TIGER would see its budget tripled to $1.5 billion. Head Start for preschoolers would get a $610 million boost, while an additional $2.4 billion would go for child care grants.”
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan called it “the worst bill I have seen in my time in Congress,” while North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows vowed to vote against the measure.
- Record spending levels
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) March 22, 2018
- No wall/border security
- Obamacare intact
- Funds Planned Parenthood
- Sanctuary Cities funded
- Barely 24 hours to read a 2,300 page bill
This Omnibus is so far from what the forgotten men and women of America voted for. I will oppose it.