President Joe Biden signed the $1.7 trillion spending bill into law on Thursday after a bipartisan group of senior legislators rushed the 4,155-page bill through Congress just days after it was introduced.
The omnibus was flown to the Caribbean island for the president’s signature after Biden signed the bill while on vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The omnibus bill provides government funding for the remainder of the fiscal year, delaying the possibility of a shutdown until at least October. Along with Democratic leaders, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) supported the bill to pass the massive spending package before Christmas.
The Senate passed the package on December 22 by a vote of 68-29, with 18 Republicans joining Democrats in support. The following day, nine Republicans joined with Democrats to pass the bill by a vote of 225-201.
Conservative critics of the massive spending bill urged McConnell to block the bill and fund the government with stopgap spending bills until a new Congress controlled by the GOP is seated next month.
Roy Blunt of Missouri, John Boozman of Arkansas, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Richard Shelby of Alabama, and John Thune of South Dakota are Republican senator.
Tuesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), a leading candidate for the next House speakership, threatened Republican senators over the spending bill. McCarthy asserted that, if elected speaker, he would eliminate the legislative priorities of any Republican senator who supported the bill.
McCarthy tweeted, “When I am Speaker, their bills will be dead on arrival in the House if this nearly $2 trillion monstrosity is allowed to move forward against our objections and the will of the American people.”
Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee was one of the most vocal critics in the upper chamber. When the spending bill was in the Senate, he unsuccessfully attempted to attach an amendment that restored Title 42 authority to border agents at the southern U.S. border.
“This proposed legislation is legislative barbarism. “Just before Christmas, the United States Senate is being subjected to extortion,” Lee said in a speech on the Senate floor. This bill’s 4,155 pages of glory — or infamy — were negotiated behind closed doors by four or five members of Congress.
“They wrote it in secret to create a manufactured crisis and threaten a shutdown just before Christmas,” he continued.
McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) collaborated to pass the bill through the Senate. McConnell supported the omnibus as a necessary military investment. “The bipartisan government funding bill before this body is imperfect but solid. He said it would make substantial new investments in our Armed Forces while reducing non-defense, non-veteran baseline spending in real dollars.
The bill allots $858 billion for military spending, an increase of $45 billion over Biden’s request. It has additional non-defense discretionary spending of $772,5 billion.
The $1.7 trillion bill contains numerous earmarks, carve-outs, and favors for lawmakers. In addition, the bill contains provisions such as $410 million for border security in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman. North Carolina Republican Representative Dan Bishop cited this provision as questionable spending.
According to The Heritage Foundation, the bill also includes $1.2 million for “LGBTQIA+ Pride Centers,” $477,000 for the Equity Institute in Rhode Island “to indoctrinate teachers with ‘antiracism virtual labs,'” and $3 million for the American LGBTQ+ Museum.
