I’m sure it wasn’t their intention, but big-spending Democrats proved this blog right today. Senator Harry Reid and his fellow liberals have unveiled a massive spend-fest and power-grab on Capitol Hill. They introduced this $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill during the lame duck session of Congress, which would allow the same representatives the voters just ran out of town on a rail to make all spending decisions for the year 2011. It shows the Left desperate to cling to power and shut down the voters’ will at all costs — just as this author has forecast.
The bill, which is nearly-2,000-page long, legislates $1.1 trillion in “discretionary spending.” The bill includes $1.25 billion funding for ObamaCare, a key provision of which a federal judge has declared unconstitutional and which the voters clearly repudiated in November. The bill is so irresponsible that it spends more money than Barack Obama requested on some programs.
This budget-buster includes at least $8 billion in earmarks for special interests back home. According to Politico, among the almost 6,600 pet projects Democrats shoehorned into the bill is $8 million for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate. (The Heritage Foundation reports the amount as $500,000; however, one dollar is too much to commemorate the Senate’s most notorious AAA member.) Heritage reports that just a few of its other earmarks include such vital measures as:
- $200,000 to install solar panels at the Community Food Bank, Inc., in Arizona;
- $700,000 to reconstruct Norwood Drive in Pennsylvania;
- $500,000 for Denver Bike Sharing;
- 100,000 for the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum in Columbus, Mississippi;
- $3.5 million to research Formosan Subterranean Termites in New Orleans;
- $1 million for peanut research in Athens and Tifton, Georgia;
- $500,000 for oyster safety in Florida;
- $600,000 for the Lewis and Clark Legacy Trail in North Dakota;
- $750,000 for the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Project in California;
- $125,000 to develop a walking trail in Mississippi
Despite the fiscal irresponsibility and utter shamelessness of this bill, some RINOs are considering voting for it. Lame duck Republicans Bob Bennett — trounced by a Tea Party candidate specifically because of actions like this — has said it is “my intention” to vote for the bill. Ohio’s George Voinovich, retiring but not soon enough, may do the same, as may Susan Collins.
The massive spending on unpopular programs, unleashed just as Congress was about to adjourn for the Christmas holiday, has brought familiar Republican cries that “The Democrats just don’t get it.” Arizona Republican Rep. Jeff Flake said: “This omnibus was written as if the election in November never happened. Voters explicitly rejected runaway spending. Congress clearly didn’t get the message. If President Obama did, he will veto this bill.”
On the contrary, Obama got the message — and that is exactly why he and his party’s leadership are shoving this bill through.
This bill will keep the new and overwhelmingly Republican Congress, elected by pledging to cut spending and reduce federal bureaucracy, from having any voice in the budget process for a full year. It locks in Obama’s massive spending hikes for a year, increasing the already bloated “discretionary” budget. It allows Obama and his free-spending minions to charge all their priorities. And in 2012, when Tea Party favorites seek re-election, it allows Democrats to say, “The budget for 2011, the first year the new Congress was in session, was higher than under Speaker Pelosi.” The Democrats get their priorities in the most thuggish manner, and the Republicans will be saddled with the blame for a budget they never had the opportunity to vote on.
Congressional liberals are following the path I forecast they would: running roughshod over the people’s will and forcing as many left-wing policies on the nation as possible. I wrote: “Look for an aggressive agenda in the lame duck session of Congress, focused especially on passing the DREAM Act and repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’” Harry Reid has promised to keep the lame suck session going until January, if necessary, to push these measures, the budget, and the START Treaty through Congress.
As I noted, this will not end after January. Next year, look for a spike in federal regulatory activity by the EPA and other agencies, and for Obama to rule by executive order.
The good news is the Republican Congress will be in a position to deny Obama’s ability to achieve at least some of his agenda through legal means. The better news is the American people are clearly behind them. The bad news is, as long as his hands are on the levers of power, the nation will never be safe from unconstitutional power grabs and assaults.
Trust me: I predicted it.
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If the new congress will agressively pursue the issue of Obama,s elgibility to be POTUS, a lot of the liberal(comunistic) laws and policies would be null and void. Surely, someone in Congress has the interest of the USA and our Constitution to fight for the truth of this subject. They owe it to the American People and our way of life. How could anyone in Congress let our Constutition be shredded like it is being done by the Imposter in chief and his cronies. They should all be thrown out of power and tried for treason and the Proper punishment administered. I pray that some statesmen in Congress will stand up for our country and expose the greatest scam of history. God give these statesmen the will and strengh to bring this to our most important issue of the day before the USA goes the way of other great empires in the past.
Responsible Americans (that excludes the donkey party "legislators"): We need the new House and Seanate to pass new legislation in 2011 to do the following after an election and midterm elections: newly elected get sworn-in by the next couple of days after the election. Those who lost…they are OUT immediately…so NO lame duck BS.
Very well said and I agree 100%.
The problem isthta the “ood old boy’s club” in DC will never do that because they will still try to get better pay back.
Sorry.
that was suppose to be the “Good Old Boys Club”
All of this could have been avoided if we had anyone in government with the Cajones to prosecute Obama for the known Fraud that he is. Lately my prayers run to a catastrophic Air Force One failure over the Deepest part of the Pacific,
I agree with U 200%. The senate and congress need to get on the ball and give the PRETENDER a big boot OUT OF OFFICE. The sooner the better. No one appears to want to force the issue of demanding that he produce proof of GET OUT.
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THE "LAME DUCK" BUNCH OF BASTARDS DOING TO THE VOTERS OF THIS COUNTRY WHAT THEY ARE DOING. EVEN IF THEY GO AHEAD AND PASS THIS PIECE OF SHIT, IF OBAMA HAD ANY "COJONES" HE WOULD STEP UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING, AND "VETO" THE WHOLE DAMN MESS. NOW THATS WHAT A RESPONSIBLE PRESIDENT WOULD DO. AND I AM JUST AFRAID WE DONT HAVE A RESPONSIBLE PRESIDENT, IF THIS PASSES AND OBAMA SIGNS IT, ITS JUST ANOTHER NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF THE DOWBFALL OF AMERICA.
As a Tea Party Nation member, I hope all Tea Party supporters and members take note. This "Omi-Bust", One Trillion Dollar Pork Barrel spending bill is a "Country Breaker". It should not be supported and any Republicans who support this bill have gone against wishes of the American people who supported them. Take note of who votes for this Budget Buster Bill and they will be replaced in the 2012 election, along with the Democrats who have placed over 6,000 earmarks into this bill at an extra cost of over $8 Billion dollars to the taxpayers. We are watching !
I feel like I've been spit in the face and then laughed at…….Seriously !!! ■$3.5 million to research Formosan Subterranean Termites in New Orleans ??? Our country is into a depression and this is how they want to spend money. The government should be cutting back on spending by getting rid of 45 incompedent czars and creating real jobs to help some of the 22,000,000 unemployed Americans…….
You betcha TaterSalad, Make notes and TAKE NAMES…………..