Lawmakers released the $1.3 trillion, 2,232-page omnibus spending bill on Wednesday night, which Congress has to pass by midnight Friday to avert a government shutdown.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on Wednesday night, “Every bill takes compromise, and there was plenty here, but at the end of the day we Democrats feel very good because so many of our priorities for the middle class were included.”
The budget shocked conservatives, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), as it flies past the spending limits set by the Budget Control Act of 2011.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) struck a deal in February to increase domestic and military spending by nearly $300 billion over the next two years. The bill includes an additional $90 billion in disaster aid for states and localities affected by last year’s hurricanes and $140 billion for emergency military funds.
Jason Pye, vice president of legislative affairs for FreedomWorks, said, “Republicans don’t know how to stop spending money.”
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview that our national debt has skyrocketed in recent years to untenable levels.
“This year, we’re looking at a deficit of $750 to $1 trillion. Next year, the estimate is $1 trillion or more. I have to wonder if there is any way that we can avoid a national insolvency or bankruptcy.”
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) lamented in an interview with Breitbart News Daily on Tuesday that the “Senate Democrats seem to be calling most of the shots.”
A report on Monday suggested that the omnibus spending bill will not include a bailout of Obamacare.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), another member of the House Freedom Caucus, suggested that a number of liberal policies will be included in the omnibus, without any substantial border wall funding.
Jordan said, “Planned Parenthood, Gateway Bridge, Planned Parenthood, trillion dollar deficit, and no wall.”
The omnibus spending bill includes funding for the New York Gateway Bridge project that will benefit Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Rep. Ted Budd slammed the Gateway bridge project in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News.
Democrats might face opposition from their liberal base because the omnibus spending bill will not likely contain amnesty for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal aliens.
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) told Fox News on Sunday that Democrats have not abandoned their base by refusing to shut down the government over DACA illegal aliens.
Durbin said, “We’re not going to have a shutdown, but I’m urging leaders to come together and understand there’s an emergency here. We have to move on a bipartisan basis.”
“We got about 80% of what we were trying to get, and if you can’t accept 80%, then the system can’t function,” Congressman John Yarmuth (D-KY) said in an interview.
Read the bill here.