Posted on 12/12/2014 6:59:39 AM PST by taildragger
The year-end fiscal drama in Washington DC to which we’ve become accustomed during the Obama years is reaching its 2014 climax. Tuesday night, the House of Representatives released the final text of the omnibus continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government through September 30, 2015.
Nicknamed the “CRomnibus,” the legislation is of course highly controversial, as it rolls into a single massive bill all of the spending in all federal agencies and departments that are normally in 12 separate appropriations bills. In other words, there’s a lot of stuff in there for everyone to hate.
We can judge CRomnibus against our standard of how the U.S. government should work were it restored to the limited, federal system designed by our Founders, and if the president still acted as if he were bound by the limits upon the executive branch—and that’s a useful exercise. By that standard, almost everything in the CRomnibus is offensive.
But we should also judge legislation in the context of where the country actually is, politically, and by what can be realistically accomplished within that context. Hence, some reminders:
This is still the 113th Congress, in which the Senate is still run by a Democrat majority. In order to move any legislation and to gain any victories, House Republicans must still compromise with Senate Democrats, like it or not. Barack Obama is still president, and in order to get a bill signed into law, Congress must put something on his desk he is willing to sign. Most Americans are tired of hearing Republican threats to shut down the federal government every few weeks. They think that if the federal government is shut down, America is shut down, and that troubles them. Republican leaders are correct that, rightly or wrongly, the constant threat of government shutdowns hurts their cause, and that the threat should be saved for critical showdowns.
But isn’t CRomnibus one of those critical showdowns? As it turns out, no. For conservatives, there are a surprising number of policy victories in the CRomnibus:
Overall federal spending remains compliant within the sequester caps, which is a major victory for spending limitation, especially against the limitless spending aspirations of the Obama administration. The federal moratorium against new and discriminatory Internet taxes (ITFA) is extended for another year. Republican leadership refused in the face of heavy lobbying to include the onerous so-called “Marketplace Fairness Act,” which would have allowed unconstitutional cross-border tax predation by states in search of more revenue. Potential taxpayer bailouts of health insurance companies, a design feature of Obamacare, are eliminated. The budget for the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), an Obamacare rationing provision, is cut. The IRS will be under enhanced scrutiny related to approval of nonprofit applications, and its budget is cut to 2008 levels. The Obama administration plan to hand off control of the core Internet functions to ICANN is delayed during the terms of the legislation. EPA funding is cut to 2008 levels, continuing a trend since 2010, and the EPA’s dangerous “Waters of the U.S.” initiative is blocked. Federal restrictions on campaign contributions are loosened, which is a victory for political speech. The Department of Homeland Security, which handles immigration policy, is only funded through February 2015, giving the new Republican 114th Congress an opportunity to address immigration policy early next year.
When judged against the reality of a Democratic Senate and a president with limitless spending aspirations, the real story of the 113th Congress is the surprising number of conservative policy successes, beginning with the sequester and recalling the permanent extension of most of the Bush tax cuts. It’s certainly something for the 114th Congress to build upon.
Fr-er’s, looking forward to your feedback, I am not trying to be flamed by posting this like you I am not happy with this bill. None the less, this is an interesting perspective.
And there is the problem. The Omnibus could have been STOPPED, not moved, by the current House.
More excuses for liberal republicans.
/johnny
Apparently Chrissy Matthews isn't the only one Hussein 0bama tingles - Little Johnny Boehner love him too!
BOEHNER MUST GO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Moderator, Please correct the author’s name their is an “i” at the end of it!
And there were an equal number of ‘successes’ for the Democrats.
We would have got more from a CR, we should have done that.
Screw the GOP. They have lost me until they get rid of the communists garbage. No one damn penny from me.
In Context would be a cartoon showing a Semi Truck full of Vaseline backing up to Congress , and Boehner and McConnell screaming, NO NOT FOR US, It’s For the TAXPAYERS.!
I think the CRomnibus showed how quickly and quietly Republicans gave up their advantage, broke their promises, and simply rubber-stamped Obama’s amnesty and Obamacare. Heck, at least some Democrats tried to stop it.
Suggests any efforts are simply futile.
Republicans got table scraps. Another blown opportunity.
We would have got more from a CR, we should have done that.
***********
Absolutely right. If Dems didn’t go for it, they were the ones shutting down da gubamint.
About 53 Republicans voted against the crap sandwich, which failed to get more than the bare minimum to pass.
And its future in the out-going Democratic Senate is by no means guaranteed.
From a Dem perspective, you gotta take it because you get most of what you want all the way out to September. Good deal for Dems. Big victory for Obama.
Even if there are a few good things in there (someone rightly called them “scraps”), this would be a poison pill.
An even better word for this would be “capitulation”. Or perhaps, “Collaboration”.
Everyone and I do mean everyone, who voted with Boehner is one of two things: a sell out to their constituents or too stupid to serve in government!
Everyone of the lemmings that followed Boehner over the cliff to support Obama needs to say bye, bye to his/her "service to the taxpayers" for sticking them with a $1.1 Trillion bill to go along with the $17 Trillion we are already stuck to pay, no thanks to this bunch of traitors!
“C-Romney-bus” Spending Bill.....
[Republicans got table scraps. Another blown opportunity. ]
The beaten cowed dogs under the table are always happy for their little table scraps because they figure under the table is still “a place at the table”.....
It is the Marxists and the media that keep talking about the republicans shutting down the government. And only them.
The republicans are scared to death of being blamed for shutting down the government.
So once again the Marxists have out played the republicans. The majority of republicans have voted to continue the omnibus bill they were elected to stop.
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