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Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) passed a massive $1.2 trillion government funding plan despite the objections of the majority of House Republicans, violating the Hastert Rule and crossing the Rubicon into dangerous territory for the future of his speakership. House Republicans enacted the longstanding rule to prohibit Republican Speakers from colluding with Democrats to pass legislation. But Johnson sent the bill to the Senate despite the objections of 112 Republican colleagues, with only 101 Republican votes in favor, although Johnson and his leadership team applied significant pressure. Johnson also broke a House rule intended to give lawmakers time to review legislation...

Washington — The House passed a massive spending package on Friday to fully fund the government through September, sending it to the Senate ahead of a midnight deadline to avert a partial shutdown. The House approved the $1.2 trillion package, which was unveiled early Thursday, in a vote of 286 to 134. The package wraps six spending bills into one to fund about three-quarters of the government until the end of the fiscal year. Another package funding the rest of the government cleared Congress two weeks ago. A majority of Republicans voted against the measure, with House conservatives objecting to...

DEVELOPING STORY: The massive spending bill presented by House Republican leaders is filled with millions of dollars in funding for LGBT organizations — including $845,000 for gay garden parties.Envision: You in Colorado, an organization focused on LGBTQ individuals, will received $845,000 of your tax dollars to host gay-themed garden parties and art shows.

Ultra-conservative Republicans are railing against the 605 pages of earmarks that will be included in a $460 billion spending package to fund six agencies of government that will come up for a vote on Wednesday. The earmarks have already caused scandal within the Senate, where Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman's office rescinded support for a $1 million earmark for an LGBTQ center in Pennsylvania that hosts BDSM parties. The funding caused a backlash on social media, prompting Fetterman, who was long one of the staunchest pro-LGBTQ lawmakers in the Keystone State, to have the earmark removed.

WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's attempt to restart his stalled spending agenda failed on Thursday when Republicans for a third time blocked a procedural vote on defense spending, raising the risk of a government shutdown in just 10 days. The House of Representatives voted 216-212 against beginning debate on an $886 billion defense appropriations bill, with five hardline conservative Republicans joining Democrats to oppose the measure.

Democratic California Rep. Zoe Lofgren earmarked $2 million in federal taxpayer money for the renovation and relocation of a Planned Parenthood clinic in the omnibus spending bill currently working its way through Congress, according to analysis of the federal government’s budget by Open the Books. Members of Congress sometimes agree to vote for a spending bill under the condition that it includes funding for an unrelated cause or project they’re interested in in a process known as earmarking. The omnibus bill for the federal government’s 2023 budget includes $2 million for a Planned Parenthood clinic at the request of Lofgren,...

The U.S. Senate on Dec. 15 passed a one-week spending bill to keep the government open as negotiations over a larger spending bill for fiscal year 2023 continue.The bill, known in legislative parlance as a “continuing resolution,” passed the upper chamber in a 71-19 vote.The passage of the bill came less than 36 hours before the government was set to shut down.The short-term measure gives lawmakers more time to work out the details of a larger omnibus spending package for FY 2023. However, such a measure could face trouble in passing.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has expressed openness to...

The bill is 2,700 pages – the length of ten books.Congress had less than one day to read the bill before they voted. President Biden has already signed off — a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill. Magic!Do we really have a representative republic if our representatives don't even know what they are voting on?Here are just a few examples of what was in the bill: $1 million for a “farm-to-refrigerator training facility” in Pennsylvania$2 million for George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change$2.5 million for a museum in Vermont.$3 million for a fisherman’s coop facility in GuamThese examples represent only...

The Senate passed a massive bill to fund the government and provide new Ukraine-related aid, sending the 2,741-page bill to President Biden’s desk. Senators voted 68-31 on the bill, which includes $1.5 trillion in government funding and $13.6 billion in aid tied to Ukraine. The bill moved at lightning speed through Congress, passing the House less than 24 hours after it was unveiled early Wednesday morning. The Senate’s vote comes less than two days after the bill was introduced. The Senate also passed by voice vote a days-long continuing resolution to buy time to get the massive legislation, which funds...

I know there’s a lot going on in the world today, but can we just take a moment to reflect on how crazy it is that the United States House of Representatives just passed a $1.5 TRILLION spending bill that no one has read?The House passed an expansive $1.5 trillion spending bill on Wednesday night that includes funding for the government through the end of the fiscal year…So that piddling, measly $1.5 trillion isn’t the full budget, it’s just through the end of the fiscal year, which is to say September 30. That’s more than Ronald Reagan’s first two budgets...

Late last night and as Rebecca reported, Congress passed a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package. It clocked in at 2,741 pages, which lawmakers didn't have a chance to read before voting. As usual, the bill is packed with non-essential, pet projects funded by the American taxpayer. Just tipsy skimming through the omnibus.$200,000,000 for the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund$50,000,000 for the Women’s Leadership Fund.We are thirty f**king trillion dollars in debt pic.twitter.com/9ZRKTFUudq— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) March 10, 2022Help me understand this one....the Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection fees get hit by COVID.And therefore taxpayers have to give them a $250...

...On Fox News on Sunday, Manchin said, “If I can’t go home and explain it to the people of West Virginia, I can’t vote for it. I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything possible, I can’t get there.” “This is a no on this legislation,” he added. White House Press Secretary Psaki admonished Manchin for his announcement. In an interview with radio host Hoppy Kercheval on West Virginia MetroNews on Tuesday, Manchin blamed the White House for his opposition to Build Back Better. Manchin said that the issue from the White...

As you dig into your expensive turkey after having spent a ton of cash filling up your SUV to get to grandma’s for Thanksgiving dinner, take heart. We’re winning. Yeah, I know – conservatives are Eeyore/Cure fan centaurs, always ready to see the despair, always ready to detect the doom coming at us. And let’s not sugar-coat it – there’s a lot of bad stuff going on. Our alleged president is only allegedly mentally competent. His understudy is a half-wit who got with Montel Williams. His party wants to spend trillions we don’t have and is convinced that printing more...

Happy Thanksgiving! But beware the "tragedy of the commons." It almost killed off the pilgrims. Now, via Washington, D.C., it's probably coming for us. Tragedy of the commons is a concept from an essay by ecologist Garrett Hardin. He wrote how cattle ranchers sharing a common parcel of land soon destroy that land. That's because each rancher has an incentive to put cattle on the common. Soon, the extra animals eat all the grass. Shared grazing space is destroyed because no rancher has an incentive to conserve. If the ranchers put up a few fences and divide the land, each...

The social spending bill approved by the House Friday in a 220-213 vote includes the most extensive immigration reform package reviewed by Congress in 35 years, albeit in a much reduced version from what proponents originally sought. If the provision is approved by the Senate as-is, the immigration measure in the bill would allow undocumented people present in the U.S. since before 2011 up to 10 years of work authorization, falling short of an initial goal to offer them a pathway to citizenship. The provision approved by the House offers a sort of waiver to immigration laws, using a process...

The Build Back Better Act now proceeds for consideration in the Senate, where the Democrats hold a razor-thin majority

Guess this was one tax hike that hit too close to home for Nancy Pelosi. The speaker of the House of Representatives — who is reportedly the sixth-wealthiest member of Congress at over $100 million — took issue late last month with plans by fellow Democrats to levy a tax on unrealized capital gains to help pay for President Biden’s massive $1.75 trillion social spending bill, according to a report. The California Democrat reportedly described the wealth tax as “a publicity stunt.”

The Build Back Better Act, or the Democrats’ social and environmental spending bill, includes financial incentives for state and local entities to change zoning laws, specifically those that would replace single-family homes with multi-unit properties to provide more “affordable housing.” Those financial incentives would come in the form of tax-payer-funded grants and tax credits. On page 815 of the 2,468-page, $1.75 trillion bill, it reads: The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall establish a competitive grant program for— (1) planning grants to develop and evaluate housing policy plans and substantially improve housing strategies; (2) streamlining regulatory requirements and shorten...

Editor's note: This piece was authored by Caleb Ashley.When Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary after an ultimately futile assault against the Democrat establishment, no one could’ve imagined he’d be a loyal foot soldier focused on party loyalty six years later. Right now, Sanders is leading negotiations with other Democrats to ensure his climate and health care priorities remain in the Democrat’s $1.75 trillion dollar spending bill, but there’s little doubt Sanders will ultimately support the bill. This isn't not how it used to be. But Sanders' transformation from outsider to enforcer of Democrat purity...