Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) is among House Republicans rejecting the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, concluding that Americans are sick of bad deals and promising to stand against the measure, as well as against senators who support it.
“Every Republican should be a NO on the omnibus spending bill,” he wrote Monday night, prior to the 4,155-page bill’s release. Days prior, Donalds asserted that “Any Senate Republican that agrees to a 9 month omnibus spending bill will steal the ability for House Republicans to secure the border” and would therefore “be complicit in Biden’s border crisis!!”:
Donalds is also part of the House Republican effort backed by GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) which is threatening to thwart legislative efforts of Senate Republicans who join in and support the massive spending bill, which, in part, offers billions to Ukraine and contains tens of millions in earmarks.
“I’m proud to support my colleagues in this letter calling on the @SenateGOP to oppose the Democrats’ Omnibus spending bill. No more status quo. No more bad deals. No more screwing over our nation,” Donalds said.
“VOTE NO ON THE OMNIBUS,” he exclaimed, as his colleagues expressed similar sentiments:
“The Democrats’ omnibus spending bill is more than 4,000 pages long. They expect Congress to rubber stamp this $2 trillion monstrosity and are pressuring us to do that right before the holidays. No Republican should cave into this political warfare,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said:
“The omnibus package, released this morning, includes another $47 billion for the war in Ukraine. It would bring our total Ukraine spending to more than $100 BILLION,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) remarked, identifying that as “one of many reasons to vote NO on this monstrosity of a bill”:
Donalds, Biggs, and Bishop are three of the thirteen who signed a letter addressed to Senate Republican colleagues, urging them to “take all steps necessary to stop the soon to be finalized omnibus spending bill negotiated with Democrats.”
To make matters more concerning for Senate Republicans who are considering waffling, McCarthy has signed on as well.
“Agreed,” he said, sharing the letter. “Except no need to whip—when I’m Speaker, their bills will be dead on arrival in the House if this nearly $2T monstrosity is allowed to move forward over our objections and the will of the American people,” McCarthy said:
“At the very least, due respect for Americas who elected us would call for not passing a ‘lame duck’ spending bill just days before Members fly home for Christmas and two weeks before a new Republican majority is sworn in for the 118th Congress,” the letter reads in part, noting that Senate Republicans have the 41 votes “necessary” to stop the bill and should use that power to “show the Americans who elected you that they weren’t wrong in doing so.”
The congressional Republicans argued that Americans did not elect them to feed the Biden administration’s fiscally irresponsible agenda, borrow more money, and spend more, increasing inflation.
“Americans didn’t elect us to continue funding an administration that has remained unchecked by Congress,” they wrote, citing the FBI colliding with Big Tech, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conspiring with “big healthcare to our detriment, and the IRS abusing its power.
The lawmakers also argue that Americans did not vote for blank checks to be written to Ukraine. This spending bill includes $45 billion in aid for Ukraine.
Authors of the letter warn senators not to give up their leverage — “the power of the purse” — which they can use to “stop Biden’s purposeful refusal to secure and defend our borders,” they continued.
“This slated ‘omnibus spending bill’ is an indefensible assault on the American people,” they said, warning senators that they will “whip opposition to any legislative priority of those senators who vote for this bill,” including the Republican Leader. However, given McCarthy’s most recent remark, that will not even be necessary.
“We will oppose any rule, any consent request, suspension voice vote, or roll call vote of any such Senate bill, and will otherwise do everything in our power to thwart even the smallest legislative and police efforts of those senators,” they warned.
Signers of the letter include Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Scott Perry (R-PA), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Matthew Rosendale (R-MT), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Bob Good (R-VA), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), as well as Reps.-elect Anna Paulina Luna, (R-FL), Andy Ogles, (R-TN), and Eli Crane (R-AZ).
The move comes days after another letter led by Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK), in which incoming House Republicans warned Senators to pass a short-term continuing resolution (CR) rather than the $1.7 trillion omnibus.
“We support House Republican Leadership’s push for a short-term continuing resolution into 2023, allowing the new House Republican majority, of which we are a part, an opportunity to claw back President Biden’s agenda,” they wrote in part.
Read the letter below:
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