It’s been more than two months since the deadline for Congress to pass a budget has passed, and Washington is no closer to slowing its spending. Instead of trying to balance the government’s books, the Democrat leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives decided to skip the budget process altogether and go straight to spending, putting the cart before the horse and liberal priorities ahead of common sense. This was on display this week as the House voted on spending packages that have no chance of being signed into law in order to push a radical agenda.
Speaker Pelosi frequently says a budget is a statement of values. By proposing massive spending hikes without a budget, her party is showing they only value spending more of the American people’s tax dollars. The spending bills they passed out of the House would bust through current spending caps by more than $176 billion with no plan at all to pay for the new spending.
Instead of investing in defense or border security, the spending package gives tens of millions more of taxpayer dollars to the United Nations and ends President Trump’s Mexico City Policy, which means the spending package would allow American taxpayer dollars to be spent on abortions overseas. The Trump Administration would be forced to give family planning grants to abortion providers, and many of President Trump’s pro-life policies would be reversed.
These radical policies are apparently more pressing to Speaker Pelosi and her caucus than issues taking place on American soil. Just this month I travelled to the southern border and saw the humanitarian and security crisis that is overwhelming our immigration system. It would be bad enough if the spending packages this week passed without addressing the ongoing illegal immigration crisis, but the bills as authored by Democrats would actually make the situation worse. It blocks further construction of a border wall and prohibits government agencies from sharing information with each other about potential illegal immigrants in the country. I authored amendments to get rid of this reckless language and curb illegal immigration, but the Democrat-controlled Rules Committee blocked my amendments from even receiving a vote.
Democrat leaders know that the spending packages passed this week have no chance of being signed into law. The spending bills may not be real, but the consequences for the American people are. They are a complete waste of time, taxpayer dollars, and the opportunity to work together to end the crisis at the border.
