WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate today approved another multi-hundred billion dollar spending bill, this time to fund the government to the end of the fiscal year. It adds an additional $410 billion onto a $1.3 trillion deficit this year, and a more than $10 trillion debt overall. U.S. Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl opposed the measure and made the following statement:
“One of the basic functions of Congress is to produce annual appropriations bills that keep the government operating. But by the end of last year, the Democrat-led Congress failed to approve nine of the total 12 appropriations bills. Instead of taking up these funding bills individually, the Democratic majority bundled the remaining ones into this massive, pork-laden $410 billion ‘omnibus’ spending bill and unveiled it just as a temporary measure funding the government was about to expire. In other words, it was presented on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis: approve this bill, or risk the government shutting down.
“This political threat pressured members to approve a bloated spending bill quickly, leading to wasteful spending. I think it would’ve been worth spending the time necessary to draft legislation that provided the government with the resources it needs while safeguarding taxpayer dollars. Absent this course, Congress should have approved a year-long ‘continuing resolution,’ as it has done in the past, to keep the current levels of funding in place from the previous fiscal year.”
