Lawmakers have been given a half-day to read through the Democratic leadership’s 2,741-page spending bill before voting, prompting some members to throw up their hands and call for the government to shut down instead of approving the $1.5 trillion legislation.
“I don’t think the government deserves to keep its lights on. I think the government should be shut down especially when they’re sneaking bills through in the middle of the night,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
According to several timelines, House and Senate members were told Tuesday the spending bill meant to keep the government operating would be finished “soon.”
But “soon” ended up being 1:30 a.m., with a House Rules Committee vote to push it to the House floor at 2:30 a.m. Now, an afternoon floor consideration and vote is scheduled beginning at 1:30 p.m.
For Greene and others critical of the “swamp,” that is no way to run an operation, especially because the spending bill includes new items to be vetted.
Pelosi’s handpicked Rules committee announced their meeting AFTER midnight.
Met at 1:30 AM.
And at 2:30 AM moved forward with the $1.5 TRILLION, 2741 page omnibus no one in Congress has time to read before voting THIS AFTERNOON!!
RT to expose the corruption of Congress. pic.twitter.com/Mc2g1UHqxD
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) March 9, 2022
“This is completely wrong. Nancy Pelosi should be completely unseated as speaker of the House. Who can honestly tolerate this type of treatment?” Greene said in a video that she encouraged viewers to pass on to friends. “This is not how Congress is supposed to work. It’s completely broken. So when you look at our government and you are shocked and cannot believe that the things that happen here in Washington, D.C., I am telling you this is how corrupt it is.”
Lawmakers proved that proclamations of a bill dropping “soon” should be treated with skepticism: The 2,741-paged government funding legislation was dropped shortly after 1:30 a.m. https://t.co/1gis7NObJz
— Congress Minutes (@politicongress) March 9, 2022
The new spending legislation includes several poison pills for some members, including a 21% boost in office spending, more cash for the Pentagon, and the return of “earmarks,” spending individual members can set aside, often in deals with other members. Earmarks were essentially eliminated after several lobbying scandals.
Just 12 hours before the spending proposal was handed out, Greene introduced legislation to increase transparency in the House. Her proposal would end voice and proxy votes and end the practice of letting members vote “present.”
She told Secrets, “They shouldn’t hide. Everything should be transparent.”
