“Swamp Politics”: 14 Republicans Beg Trump Not to Sign $1.4 Trillion Omnibus Bill

As Congress prepares to send a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill to President Donald Trump’s desk, 14 House Republicans are busy urging Trump to send it back to Capitol Hill with a big fat veto. The House lawmakers, whose number include Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, sent a letter to the president this week describing the legislation as a “massive take-it-or-leave-it bill, negotiated behind closed doors, that expands government, spends at record levels well above 2011 base cap levels, and funds unnecessary or even harmful federal programs.”

Fox News has more:

Negotiations were expected to resume Thursday among congressional leaders in an effort to come to an agreement on the massive spending bill and to prevent a government shutdown, as well as a separate coronavirus stimulus package.

“I’m hopeful by tonight…we will have an agreement on the omnibus,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Wednesday — but lawmakers ended negotiations without a deal.

Fox News is told that while the omnibus spending package is in “good” shape, policy issues remain — which means it may require another interim spending bill to avoid a government shutdown this weekend after the Friday deadline.

The lawmakers are unhappy with the broad outlines of the deal and they’ve put the blame on Nancy Pelosi, arguing that the legislation “fully funds an agenda rejected by the American people.” This, of course, is true – seeing as how Pelosi’s majority actually shrank in the last election. The Republicans also reminded Trump of his 2018 promise after signing a massive omnibus spending bill.

“You said then that you would never sign another bill like this again,” the Republicans wrote. “This bill promises to be even larger, exemplifying everything that is wrong with the swamp politics of Washington, D.C.”

The lawmakers said the bill is offensive in both its size and its content.

“Supporting this is a vote to fund an education system that is failing to educate our children while teaching them that America is evil,” they wrote. “It is a vote to fund grants to states that run a badly broken election system; it is a vote to fund a healthcare system that empowers insurance companies at the expense of hard-working Americans; it is a vote to underfund border security and empower cartels; it is a vote to continue war without so much as a debate much less a vote on a new AUMF for our men and women in uniform; it is a vote to fund Planned Parenthood; and, among many other things, it is a vote to send money to state and local agencies that are perpetuating the shutdowns that are destroying our way of life.”

If the bill fails – either in Congress or at the White House – lawmakers will have to pass another stopgap spending bill to keep the government from shutting down.