House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) blasted the Senate Tuesday evening for attempting to pass the massive omnibus spending bill without proper vetting.
Interviewed on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle,” McCarthy accused the upper chamber of blindly pushing the package through. He declared that no one is able to read it and senators are bypassing the committee process to ensure pet projects remain intact.
“We’re two weeks away — 14 days away — from having a stronger hand in negotiations…we can eliminate waste and wokeism, we would have a stronger hand. The Democrats planned this on purpose.”
—@GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy AGAINST Democrats’ lame-duck Omnibus bill ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/MRDCJ8i0iO
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) December 21, 2022
Many in Congress are rushing the spending bill through before the Christmas holiday, and Democrats in particular want to avoid giving Republicans the opportunity to trim waste from the measure.
With the GOP taking House control in January, McCarthy vowed that those days are over. At that point, he declared, “we won’t allow the Senate bills to come up unless they move through committee.” He added, “we won’t allow them to do an omnibus again.”
McCarthy sarcastically noted that Sens. Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) will not be a part of the Senate in less than two weeks.
Still, the pair authored an enormous bill “that they won’t even show anybody.” Then, he said, they will leverage Christmas break by telling House members they cannot leave until they vote on it.
The package reached this point without a reading and without a hearing, McCarthy noted. And while the GOP must wait until next month to assume House control, it is critically important that this wasteful package be stopped “now.”
The congressional civil war heated up Monday when 13 Republican representatives and representatives-elect sent a letter to GOP senators over the issue.
They wrote that future efforts by any lawmaker who supports the sweeping $1.7 trillion omnibus package will be stymied in the 118th Congress. This broad threat, however, was met with a shrugging of shoulders in the Senate.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) accused the writers of lacking “maturity and the ability to lead.” Even though he revealed his plan to vote against the bill, he mocked their efforts to block its passage.
Cramer belittled their actions as “chest-thumping and immaturity,” saying it does not give him confidence in their leadership.
The Senate released the massive bill early Tuesday morning, apparently without bothering to examine it or subject it to committee review. They knew full well that, with a government shutdown looming at midnight on Friday, lawmakers would be pressured to pass it despite their objections.
