WASHINGTON—In the early hours of Tuesday morning, lawmakers released the text of a 4,155-page omnibus spending package. The massive $1.85 trillion spending bill would fund the federal government through fiscal year 2023. It’s under consideration by a lame-duck Congress, many of whose members will no longer be answerable to voters who just opted to flip control of the House of Representatives. The proposal would increase the federal deficit by $2.65 trillion over 10 years, $20,000 per household, further driving up inflation. 

Clint Brown, Heritage vice president of government relations, released the following statement Tuesday in response to this disaster of a spending package:   

“This omnibus is a complete betrayal of the American people. There is a reason that Congress waited until after the election, when it is least accountable, to pass a massive spending bill. If it’s so great, why didn’t they pass it in October? No surprise, radical Democrats are pushing another extreme proposal. And, no surprise, a number of Republicans are lining up to support this monstrosity.  

 

“This omnibus would lock in the Biden-Schumer-Pelosi agenda for another year, instead of giving the new Republican majority in the House the opportunity to write spending bills starting Jan. 3. Senate Republican leaders are knowingly insulating the Biden administration from the only leverage the swamp cares about—the power of the purse. This bill ensures that the Biden regime will get its funding, while Congress will have little recourse but to complain until this funding runs out next year. Both get what they want, while the American people lose. 

 

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Conservatives in Congress could pass a short-term continuing resolution to take us to early February, which is when a Republican-controlled House can apply proper scrutiny to the Biden regime. Instead, it seems Senate Republicans would rather give Democrats everything they want. It’s yet another example of the swamp looking out for its own. Hopefully, there are some Republicans who will do what’s right and look out for the rest of us. It shouldn’t be too much to ask that they hold Biden accountable rather than give him a massive spending bill days before Christmas.”  

For more: Enough Is Enough: Senate Republicans Shouldn’t Cave & Pass Massive Spending Bill 

This proposal is not only a betrayal of American voters’ wishes as expressed at the ballot box, however. It also contains billions in wasteful spending on ridiculous political pet projects, including the following:  

• $1.2 million for “LGBTQIA+ Pride Centers” and another $1.2 million for “support services for DACA recipients” (aka helping illegal aliens with taxpayer funds) at San Diego Community College. 

• $477,000 for the Equity Institute in Rhode Island to indoctrinate teachers with “antiracism virtual labs.” 

• $1 million for Zora’s House in Ohio, a “coworking and community space” for “women and gender-expansive people of color.” 

• $3 million for the American LGBTQ+ Museum in New York City. 

• $3.6 million for a Michelle Obama Trail in Georgia. 

• $750,000 for “LGBT and Gender Non-Conforming housing” in Albany, N.Y. 

• $2 million for the “Great Blacks in Wax” museum in Baltimore. 

• $856,000 for an “LGBT Center” in New York. 

• $750,000 for the “TransLatin@ Coalition” to provide “workforce development programs and supportive services for Transgender and Gender nonconforming and Intersex (TGI) immigrant women in Los Angeles.”