Posted on 03/22/2018 1:30:09 PM PDT by Sopater
“When we rush to pass bill that a lot of us don’t understand, we are not doing our job.” ~Speaker Paul Ryan, 2015
This is it. For this budget bill, Republicans had sole possession of the ball, and of course, they have tossed an interception. The only question now is whether Trump will need to hear a raucous rebellion from his voters before he changes his mind and finally uses his veto pen.
Rather than spending the weeks leading up to the budget deadline outlining their vision for the country in terms of spending priorities and policies, the GOP used the time to promote the possibility of including a number of Democratic priorities. This point was best articulated by Rep. Thomas Massie:
How ironic that Republicans will pass what is likely to be their last major bill before losing Congress by violating their pledge to America in 2010, when they captured Congress, promising to post all legislation for 72 hours before a vote.
Don’t be fooled: This bill isn’t OK just because Republicans could have crammed even more Democratic priorities into it, but didn’t. Now that items such as the internet sales tax, official legislative amnesty for “Dreamers,” and the insurance bailout have been left out of the bill, some might consider this bill a victory. It isn’t. It’s a colossal betrayal. This bill is the final nail in the coffin of all the promises on health care spending and immigration they ran on in 2016. And as for the bailout and internet sales tax, they are fully committed to those items in a standalone bill rather than properly articulating a vision on those issues for the American people.
Taken in totality, this bill validates, legitimizes, and codifies the world view of the Democrats, only with slightly less enthusiasm. Which is why the Democrats are crushing Republicans in turnout so far this election season. This bill will essentially end Republican control of Congress.
Here are the top 10 problems with the bill:
1) Eye-popping debt: This bill codifies the $143 billion busting of the budget caps, which Congress adopted in February, for the remainder of this fiscal year. This is on top of the fact that government spending already increased $130 billion last year over the final year of Obama’s tenure. Although the Trump administration already agreed to this deal in February, the OMB put out a memo suggesting that Congress appropriate only $10 billion of the extra $63 billion in non-defense discretionary spending. Now it’s up to Trump to follow through with a veto threat. It’s not just about 2018. This bill paves the road to permanently bust the budget caps forever, which will lead to trillions more in spending and cause interest payments on the debt to surge past the cost of the military or even Medicaid in just eight years.
Keep in mind that all the additional spending will be stuffed into just six months remaining to the fiscal year, not a 12-month period. A number of onerous bureaucracies will get cash booster shots instead of the cuts President Trump wanted.
Remember when Mick Mulvaney said the fiscal year 2017 budget betrayal was needed so that he could do great things with the fiscal year 2018 budget? Good times.
2) Bait and switch on the wall: Since this bill increases spending for everything, one would think that at least the president would get the $15 billion or so needed for the wall. No. The bill includes only $641 million for 33 miles of new border fencing but prohibits that funding for being used for concrete barriers. My understanding is that President Trump already has enough money to begin construction for roughly that much of the fence, and pursuant to the Secure Fence Act, he can construct any barrier made from any This actually weakens current law.
3) Funds sanctuary cities: When cities and states downright violate federal law and harbor illegal aliens, Congress’ silence in responding to it is deafening. Cutting off block grants to states as leverage against this dangerous crisis wasn’t even under discussion, even as many other extraneous and random liberal priorities were seriously considered.
4) Doesn’t fund interior enforcement: Along with clamping down on sanctuary cities, interior enforcement at this point is likely more important than a border wall. After Obama’s tenure left us with a criminal alien and drug crisis, there is an emergency to ramp up interior enforcement. Trump requested more ICE agents and detention facilities, but that call was ignored in this bill. Trump said that the midterms must focus on Democrats’ dangerous immigration policies. Well, this bill he is supporting ensures that they will get off scot-free.
5) Doesn’t defund court decisions: Some might suggest that this bill was a victory because at least it didn’t contain amnesty. But we have amnesty right now, declared, promulgated, and perpetuated by the lawless judiciary. For Congress to pass a budget bill and not defund DACA or defund the issuance of visas from countries on Trump’s immigration pause list in order to fight back against the courts is tantamount to Congress directly passing amnesty.
6) Funds Planned Parenthood: We have no right to a border wall or more ICE funding, but somehow funding for a private organization harvesting baby organs was never in jeopardy or even under discussion as a problem.
7) Gun control without due process: Some of you might think I’m being greedy, demanding that “extraneous policies” be placed in a strict appropriations bill. Well, gun control made its way in. They slipped in the “Fix NICS” bill, which pressures and incentivizes state and federal agencies to add more people to the system even though there is already bipartisan recognition that agencies are adding people who should not be on the list, including veterans, without any due process in a court of law. They are passing this bill without the House version of the due process protections and without the promised concealed carry reciprocity legislation. Republicans were too cowardly to have an open debate on such an important issue, so they opted to tack it onto a budget bill, which is simply unprecedented. The bill also throws more funding at “school violence” programs when they refuse to repeal the gun-free zone laws that lie at the root of the problem.
8) More “opioid crisis funding” without addressing the problem: The bill increases funding for “opioid addiction prevention and treatment” by $2.8 billion relative to last year, on top of the $7 billion they already spent in February. This is the ultimate joke of the arsonist pretending to act as the firefighter, because as we’ve chronicled in detail, these funds are being used to clamp down on legitimate prescription painkillers and create a de facto national prescription registry so that government can violate privacy and practice medicine. Meanwhile, the true culprits are illicit drugs and Medicaid expansion, exacerbated by sanctuary cities, as the president observed himself. Yet those priorities are jettisoned from the bill.
9) Student loan bailout: The bill offers $350 million in additional student loan forgiveness … but only for graduates who take “lower-paid” government jobs or work for some non-profits! This was a big priority of Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Government created this problem of skyrocketing student debt by fueling it with subsidies and giving the higher education cartel a monopoly of accreditation, among other things. Indeed, this very same bill increases Pell grants by $2 billion. But more money is always the solution, especially when it helps future government workers.
10) Schumer’s Gateway projects earmark: Conservatives had a wish list of dozens of items, but it’s Schumer’s local bridge and tunnel project that got included. While the bill didn’t contain as much as Schumer asked for (remember the tactic of starting off high), the program would qualify for up to $541 million in new transportation funding. Also, the bill would open up $2.9 billion in grants through the Federal Transit Administration for this parochial project that should be dealt with on a state level. New York has high taxes for a reason.
We already knew what Republicans in Congress would do. This is their modus operandi. The only new element in this toxic brew is President Trump. Voters selected him over allies of congressional leaders precisely because they wanted him to wield a heavy veto pen. If he signs this bill, he is just as complicit with the swamp as the people he defeated.
Why do we vote for Republicans? I presume this isn’t final but is this what Republicans want to put on Trump’s desk and defend this fall? Will Trump have the balls to veto it? I sure hope so.
Don't blame the Democrats-they are just being their usual Marxist selves.
Blame the traitorous bastards-McConnell and Paul Ryan and the rest of the greedy selfish Gope who couldn't give a sh*t about this country continuing to prosper or even survive.
President Trump has uncovered massive corruption and sabotage at the highest levels in our government-but what do these people who swore an oath to uphold our Constitution do?-They plot and scheme to bring down the one person who dares to do something about it, and is trying to "Make America Great Again".
History will not be kind to these low life cowardly little worms standing in the way of this country being restored.
Why do we vote for Republicans? I presume this isn’t final but is this what Republicans want to put on Trump’s desk and defend this fall? Will Trump have the balls to veto it? I sure hope so.
Trump said he will sign it....F all of them DJT included
My blood boils too.
The RATs will stampede to vote for this terrible bill.
Great post. I agree with your analysis.
This seems to be a full stop on the Trump train. No veto I guess I’ll have to get off. This is incredibly sad. I quit the republican party because of cromnibus this smells just the same.
Big message to the Deplorables that we are worse than caca to them. Mighty Globalist RINOs Ryan, McConnell, et.al., haven’t given up on anything as they were NEVER on our side in the first place. Please quit making such lame excuses for these Traitors.
I did as well.
Trump’s victory helped exposed how awful most of the GOP is.
“So, no veto should be expected.”
He doesn’t have the political support or standing to veto a budget. He would be destroyed. So instead it will be the slower death of the election of majority socialists and impeachment next year.
The Socialists will dare anyone to do anything about it.
They owned Washington D.C. and controlled the country for decades before Trump ever happened. They’ve been building their socialist/fascist state since Reagan’s second term. Trump arrived and the system will simply spit him out at their own leisure.
What is sad is all the patriots standing for a flag that used to mean something but is now a shill and a trapping for fooling them into thinking that they still have a country to salute. Trump did one thing...make us all understand that the country we think we lived in died long ago and we now are simply subjects of government power once again...living and dying according to how the government tells us to.
Welcome to the red pill.
I followed the link you posted to contact the White House. Although I’m convinced it won’t do any good, I took the time to write a rational plea for him to uphold his campaign promises and veto this monstrosity. Thanks for posting the link...
Thanks for doing that.
I wrote as well and tweeted to the President.
I say veto and see if the House and Senate can override.
I think they will feel the heat once more people find out what a rotten deal this is for us, their masters.
When you see that d-head Chuck Schumer smiling, you know you just got screwed.
I wouldn't be surprised if many of the budget items that hem Trump in were their ideas. If they wanted Trump to succeed, we would not have such a spending bill here a couple of days before the deadline.
So much LOSING!
“There is no question Ryan and McConnell simply gave up and surrendered here. However, it is important to also add context. This is an election year. This is an election year budget.”
It wasn’t an election year budget. This vote was on the budget for fiscal 2018 which began October 1, 2017. This budget should have been wrapped up and approved before October 1, 2017 so it wouldn’t be deliberated and passed during an election year.
Now they move on to the fiscal 2019 budget. The budget year begins October 1, 2018. Since they will all be campaigning for the November 2018 election, what kind of fiscal restraint can we expect? Zero. The Democrats are going to play games and stonewall all spring and summer. The Republicans are going to be trying to add as much pork as they can. If you think the budget just passed was bad, wait until you see the one they are about to start work on. Plus, you can be assured the Democrats will once again play the Republicans for the fools they are in September to create the maximum budget crisis drama just before the election.
What price will the Democrats extract from the Republicans in September to get a continuing resolution putting off the budget vote until after the election. If the it looks like the GOP will lose the House or Senate you can bet the Democrats will exact a high price if they don’t precipitate a government shutdown they can blame on Trump. You can expect zero dollars for the wall in the 2019 budget, plenty of money for student loan bailouts. They may even get the DACA kids through with a quick pathway to citizenship without any concessions to the GOP. If Mitch and Paul wouldn’t put up a fight for the 2018 budget, they certainly will cave quickly to get the continuing resolution they will need before the October 1 start of the fiscal year.
There will be no before or after the election. The lid has now blown off any pretense of fiscal restraint. Both parties are fully behind deficit spending and monetization of the debt by the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile the Chinese and Russians have been buying as much physical gold as they can. The day is coming soon when the US loses reserve currency status due to is fiscal irresponsibility. When that day come we will either have hyperinflation like Venezuela is currently experiencing or we will see the government make draconian expense cuts while piling on confiscatory taxes. Either way, the republic ends, the dictatorship begins, and the sheeple get to experience the ugly reality of life in a 3rd world hell hole.
I respectfully disagree.
I think they want people to believe they are merely afraid of the (supposedly) other party, and the hostile media.
They are Trotskyist leftists at heart. They look for every excuse to go big government, world government. They just have to hide it some, unlike their D pals.
The worst part is that Ryan allowed (aided and abetted) this piece of crap to be slopped together and he’s not even as bad as McConnell is....if we got rid of both of them we might have a chance
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