The $1.7 trillion omnibus budget package that would fund the government through the rest of fiscal 2023 was passed with the help of nine Republican members of the House voting with the Democrats. Several moderate Republicans who are not running for reelection next year and who have voted with the Democrats on multiple occasions in recent months were among those who formed this group. Except for Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), all other Democrats in the House voted in favor of the omnibus bill.
John Katko (R-NY), Chris Jacobs (R-NY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Fred Upton (R-MI), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Steve Womack (R-AR), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), and Liz Cheney (R-WY) are all Republicans from New York who voted in favor of the omnibus (R-WY). This may have been the final vote for Upton, Davis, Herrera Beutler, Kinzinger, Katko, and Cheney, as they are all leaving Congress in January.
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The “impeachment 10,” which included Republicans Katko, Kinzinger, Cheney, Upton, and Herrera Beutler, were the only Republicans to vote in favor of impeaching former President Donald Trump for a second time. In January, only two of those ten will be back in the House of Representatives.
There were 18 Republican senators who supported passing the omnibus bill. Representatives and Senators who signed on included Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Boozman (R-AR), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Jerry Moran (R-KS) (R-IN).
McCarthy threatened Republican senators on Tuesday that if they voted to pass the omnibus, their objectives would be killed in the House.
McCarthy tweeted that if the over $2T monstrosity was allowed to continue through despite our objections and the will of the American people, his leadership would ensure that the measures in question would be rejected outright by the House.
Republicans who are unhappy with the omnibus have argued that Congress should keep passing temporary spending bills until the GOP majority is seated in the House next year. This would give the GOP more leverage in negotiations with the administration and Democrats over spending objectives.
Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee has been a vocal opponent. On Tuesday, he delivered a statement on the Senate floor criticizing the omnibus and the leaders in Congress who were pushing the mammoth spending plan through, specifically Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Legislation currently before the Senate is an act of legislative savagery. On the eve of Christmas, this is an act of extortion being leveraged against the United States Senate,” Lee added. “Four or five members of Congress secretly negotiated this measure, in all its splendor – or infamy – across its 4,155 pages.”
They drafted it in secrecy “with the design of producing an artificial emergency, threatening a shutdown right before Christmas,” he explained.
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The bill was passed by the Senate thanks to McConnell’s efforts and those of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). McConnell voted for the omnibus because he believed it was important to put money into the military. The government funding bill that was worked on by both parties is imperfect but solid and is currently before this body. In a statement released on Wednesday, he explained that the plan would “make massive new investments in our Armed Forces while decreasing non-defense, non-veterans baseline expenditure in real dollars.”
The $858 billion in military funding is $45 billion more than Biden asked. It also has discretionary spending of $772.5 billion in areas other than military.
Numerous lawmakers have received special provisions and funding in the $1.7 trillion bill. Funding for border security in the countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman to the tune of $410 million is included in the measure as well. North Carolina Republican Dan Bishop cited that clause as an instance of wasteful spending.
The Heritage Foundation reports that the plan includes funding of $1.2 million for “LGBTQIA+ Pride Centers,” $477,000 for the Equity Institute in Rhode Island “to indoctrinate teachers with ‘antiracism virtual labs,’ and $3 million for the American LGBTQ+ Museum.
The bill will become law next week after being signed by Joe Biden.
