It has been more than a quarter of a century since Congress did its duty to finish appropriations bills on time by Sept. 30. Instead, Congress has waited until the last week before Christmas and then made all spending decisions in a nil-considered rush, with virtually no public debate or amendments, and crammed the lot into a single monstrosity of a bill.
It wouldn’t be so bad if all this last-minute legislating splurge dealt only with spending. But Washington’s high-priced lobbyists have figured out that the scramble at the end of each year creates a perfect opportunity to add on presents for their wealthiest clients. Nobody is going to read a 4,155-page bill that spends $1.7 trillion in the day or two between publication and voting. So the annual spending omnibus fairly jingles with extraneous legislation that couldn’t pass in the weeks and months before.
Not everything tacked on to this year’s omnibus is bad. As we have written before, the Electoral Count Act is a much-needed reform that clarifies language plaguing congressional counting of electoral votes for president. But the Senate could and should have passed this legislation much earlier in the year. There was no reason other than cynicism to wait till now.
Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) banning the Chinese spyware app TikTok from all government mobile devices is also a welcome addition to the omnibus, as is Sen. Susan Collins’s (R-ME) provision that saves lobstermen from an oppressive regulation by the National Marine Fisheries Service that would have destroyed the industry. A bipartisan retirement plan was also included, which, among other things, helpfully raised the age from 72 to 75 at which people must take at least minimum distributions out of their untaxed savings.
But there is much more that is bad in the omnibus, including a 9.3% hike in domestic spending, big increases for food stamps, heating assistance, and the failed Head Start program.
Then there are the immigration provisions, which give $800 million to nonprofit groups to help President Joe Biden speed illegal immigrants into the country even faster. If you account for inflation, the bill also cuts spending on deporting illegal immigrants. Deportations already dropped to all-time lows under Biden this year.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) justifiably objected to the fact that voters who gave Republicans a majority were not included in negotiations for this final spending spree. He argued properly that a short-term continuing resolution would have been preferable. The immigration provisions alone would have been much better if House Republicans had been at the table. But that ship has now sailed.
One of McCarthy’s top priorities as speaker, if he wins that election next month, should be to show his Senate colleagues, Republican and Democrat, that it is possible to pass spending bills on time. Voters want effective government. Republicans should abolish the omnibus tradition and leave season spending sprees to citizens doing their Christmas shopping. It would help the country and the GOP if they did so.
