By Rick Manning
The $1.65 trillion omnibus spending bill got one step closer to passage on Dec. 21 as the Senate easily voted in favor of the motion to proceed with the massive Omnibus spending package, 70 to 25, with 20 Senate Republicans voting in favor of moving forward. That’s more than enough for final passage.
Now, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is offering an amendment that would do something to protect our chaotic southern border which is now seeing millions of illegal crossings every year, by taking away President Joe Biden’s discretion to end Title 42 removals, which were instituted by former President Donald Trump in 2020 because of the Covid 19 pandemic national emergency,
This is Senate Republicans’ chance, who have one tool in their toolchest to stop the shambles that President Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are making of our country — the legislation appropriating spending for the upcoming year.
With the GOP taking control of the House of Representatives in 2023, precedent and common sense would have dictated allowing their fellow House Republicans to write an underlying spending bill with the power to use it to address immigration, criminal justice, education, foreign policy, health care and overall spending to be passed in the first quarter of 23.
The motion to proceed to bill already passed, Senators Murkowski (R-AK), Shelby (R-AL) Tuberville (R-AL), Boozman (R-AR), Cotton (R-AR), Rubio (R-FL), Grassley (R-IA); Young (R-IN), Moran (R-KS), McConnell (R-KY), Collins (R-ME), Blunt (R-MO), Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Wicker (R-MS), Portman (R-OH), Graham (R-SC), Rounds (R-SD), Thune (R-SD), Cornyn (R-TX), Romney (R-UT), Capito (R-WV), who all saw fit to take the power of the purse out of the hands of the newly elected GOP House and the voters who empowered them, and rubber stamped Biden’s agenda.
Maybe the omnibus that they voted to move forward with is the best that can be done given Democrat control of the Senate and Executive branch, but voting to allow it to become law is the equivalent of waving the white flag.
Now, for the last time this year, Senate Republicans have one more chance to fight, with Sen. Lee taking the lead and offering his amendment that would force President Biden’s hand on Title 42 and at least help a little at the southern border.
But it doesn’t look good. Seeing what the McConnell-led Senate Republicans have chosen to do in the lame duck confirms the reason why conservative voters did not swarm the polls to give them power in 2023.
And given the overall $1.65 trillion omnibus, with a House GOP majority a little more than a week away, if the GOP Senate won’t even stand up against the Biden regulatory and spending agenda, then when will they?
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
