Democratic leaders spiked the football Thursday after the House passed the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package and argued they have been able to accomplish more despite not holding the White House or either congressional chamber.
After rolling through a litany of Democratic wins in the spending package, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., declared Democrats were big winners in the bipartisan bill despite their standing in Congress. Specifically, he touted funding for the Gateway tunnel project and increased spending for the National Institutes of Health, along with other programs.
“It’s a funny thing. In a certain sense, we’re able to accomplish more in the minority than we were when we had the presidency or even were in the majority,” Schumer said when asked at one point about the wildfire-related funding that was included in the bill.
“At the end of the day, as the minority party, we feel good about being able to succeed in so many ways,” Schumer said. “We don’t have the House, we don’t have the Senate, we don’t have the presidency, but we produced a darn good bill for the priorities we have believed in.”
While Democrats were excited by the package — helped out by a $63 billion increase in domestic spending as part of a budget caps deal struck earlier this year — Republicans by-and-large were pleased with the victories for their side, including $700 billion for defense spending. Some also believed the $1.6 billion included to beef up border security is a win, given that it was an increase from the president’s own budget proposal.
However, many conservatives didn’t back the package, giving Democrats the needed leverage to get their priorities included in the bill, as noted by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“Much of our leverage has sprung from the fact that the Republicans … they weren’t voting for this bill,” Pelosi said. “That gave us leverage in all the negotiations. That gave the middle class a victory.”
