Does D.C. have an enormous spending problem?
On March 9, 2022, Texas Congressman Chip Roy published a thread highlighting a massive omnibus spending bill that is 2700 pages long and is roughly $1.5 trillion that is expected to be voted on.
He started off by tweeting, “#SWAMPSPENDING THREAD: 1) We were sent vote times & “Omnibus” spending bill at 230AM. 2) It is 2700 pages & we vote at 1000AM. 4) Top-line spending appears to be $1.512 Trillion. 3) We are told it is a 6% increase year-over-year, NOT counting Ukraine or COVID Supp… (1/6)”
Despite the massive spending increases, there were no concomitant measures to relax restrictions on US oil and gas regulations or the Wuhan virus mandate, which Roy pointed out:
… 4) We can’t identify their “baseline” for saying 6% increase, it appears higher, but we cannot tell. 5) We are aware of zero actual changes to USA Oil & Gas restrictions. 6) We are aware of zero changes to COVID vax mandates… (2/6) #DefundTyranny #DefundVaxMandates
Ever worse, Roy called attention to how there were no changes made to America’s current open borders policies:
…7) We are aware of zero meaningful policy changes for our open border – only more money for CBP/ICE – which means more money to process illegal immigrants, and more money for MPP/Return to MX, which DHS is ignoring anyway!… (3/6) #SecureBorderNow
We shouldn’t forget the over $13 billion doled out to Ukraine, which has not been transparently discussed in terms of where it’s going to and what the overall purpose of the aid entails:
…8) We have not been able to comb through earmarks yet – but it’s likely there are earmarks one way or other… 9) The Supplemental Ukraine money is $13.6BB (unoffset!) has had zero meaningful debate about what this means re: war / engagement / effectiveness… (4/6)
Omnibus bills are the perfect vehicles to sneak in all sorts of spending projects that satisfy interest group demands but don’t enhance a country’s standard of living. This omnibus bill has been no different. Plus, it hasn’t even addressed the topic of energy independence, something Roy outlined:
“…10) there is $15.6BB in COVID supplemental for Lord-only knows what (apparently offset by previous COVID approps?). 11) We are also voting on a ban on Russian oil with no changes to the limits on USA oil – which means higher gas prices &/or $ to Venezuela/Iran?… (5/6)”
The worst part about this bill is that it will likely enjoy bipartisan support, like all bad legislation that’s approved in DC these days. Roy asserted that the bill will enjoy “significant” support in both the House and Senate:
“…And for #SwampSpending icing on the cake, there will be significant @HouseGOP & @SenateGOP support for this rushed, massive spending while inflation is at 7+% – fails to secure the border, fails to open up USA energy, fails to protect Americans from a jab… #DefundTyranny (6/6)”
DC has a major spending problem that must be addressed. However, the current ruling class is not up to the challenge to address it. As a result, we will need more representatives like Thomas Massie, Chip Roy, etc. for DC to change. However, this will not happen overnight. Liberty conservatives will need to take over their local and state level governments to build the power base necessary that will allow them to take over DC in the future.
