- Bold emphasis ours. This is the sort of thing the TEA Party was about and now with Republicans in charge . . .
- Tax reductions won’t be sustained without spending controls
3/22/18
WASHINGTON D.C. – Congressman Rod Blum issued the following statement after his vote against H.R. 1625, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018.
“As a fiscal watchdog elected to Congress on the promise to rein in Washington’s out of control spending habits, this omnibus bill represents politics as usual in Washington.
The text was not released until last night, effectively giving Members of Congress seven hours to read the 2,232 page bill — the equivalent length of two Bibles. It is problematic voting on any legislation that I cannot study first in its entirety.
The omnibus is not an effective way to run a government, and we must return to regular order and appropriations budgeting process to restore fiscal sanity. The House passed all 12 appropriations bills 189 days ago – we did our job. However, the Senate did not take up even one of those bills.
Bad process usually leads to bad policy. With any 2,232 page bill, there are bound to be some things that I like; in fact, many that I have voted for in the past as stand-alone bills, and would vote for again in the future are in the Omnibus bill. However, by and large, this bill fails to deliver on the promises we made to the American people. This bill will not secure our southern border, continues funding Planned Parenthood and sanctuary cities, and infringes upon the 2nd Amendment rights of Americans to name but a few problems in the bill.
And the most problematic part of the bill is the overall spending levels. Aside from former President Obama’s stimulus package in 2009, this is the largest discretionary spending increase in U.S. history. This bill will lead to a 1 trillion dollar deficit next year – this is unacceptable, unsustainable and not what the voters in Iowa sent me to Washington to do. That is why I joined 167 of my colleagues to vote NO on the omnibus bill.”
The self serving pats on the back by people like Blum aren’t enough.
We’ve been through this before. Not going to buy it again. If the democrats are going to take over, let the chips fall where they may, but I am done fighting for the Lying Bastard Party, or as Mark Steyn recently called them, the Grand Old Pussies. Or maybe Grand Oligarch Party, which fits even better.
It isn’t true nobody read that bill.
Mao Tse McConnell, Lying Paul Ryan, Schumer, Pelosi and a handful of their cronies damn well read it. They wrote it over the last few weeks, behind closed doors.
The rest of the complaining court eunuchs griping about not having time to read it miss the point. Not only did they not read it, but they had no input whatsoever into the spending bill. No debate. No amendments. That’s what they should be up in arms about.
It was a show vote. These few “leaders” disenfranchised 90% of the population’s representation in the way this was done, and if they get away with it, then it will never change.
Whether the rest of them (Representatives and Senators) voted for or against the bill is really immaterial. All of them should be pissed off, but so far what I’ve heard is the Freedom Caucus wringing their hands and complaining, but doing nothing. Doing something would be to remove Ryan and McConnell ASAP.
If they do, then maybe I will reconsider. But they won’t, which tells you that they like this system too. And that’s why I won’t vote for any Republican this fall.”
Dr. Cole’s anger is well understood and shared by many of us.
Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell may be the most dishonest, treacherous leaders that either party has ever known.
And there are way too many Republicans in both houses of Congress who are either untrustworthy or too lazy to do other than ‘go along to get along’, or both.
But I believe that Dr. Cole’s anger is misplaced in one respect. While it would take a very strong stomach to vote for a Susan Collins or the likes of a McCain, Flake, et al in the upcoming mid-terms (or any other election), to place any significant part of the blame for the treachery and incompetence of the current GOP congressional caucus on all members, and the Freedom Caucus as a group, is both unfair and self-defeating.
The Freedom Caucus and people like Steve King, Louie Gohmert, Jim Jordan, and a number of others have made credible and courageous efforts to oppose the establishment figures in the GOP ranks and have remained faithful to the campaign promises they’ve made.
But they are relatively small in number and cannot effectively overthrow the truly detestable phonies we have mistakenly sent to Washington to represent us.
I submit that only by sending more people like King and Jordan and Mark Meadows to Washington and swell the number in Congress with people we can trust (yes, there are some) is it possible to rid the House and Senate of the Ryans and McConnells…not by refusing to vote for the few we can trust who are already there.
I believe there are good people, honest, dependable conservatives and libertarians out there who would be willing to serve on behalf of the American people and not for their self-interest. We must find them and support them, and not lose the good ones we already have.
And one more word of caution to angry and frustrated Republicans: the better the candidates we help to put up the nastier and more aggressive will the media attack them. Too often in the past, those attacks, inaccurate, unfair, often ridiculous, and petty as they are have swayed some of the most dedicated Republican voters to abandon them.
Frankly, I’ll take a Sharron Angle over a Maxine Waters, or even a Christine O’Donnell over a Chris Coons (is he a warlock?) any time.