The bill has landed —and it’s a beast.
Flipping through the 4,000+ page, $1.7 trillion dollar omnibus spending bill, you will find money for all kinds of woke pet projects: pride centers, wax museums, anti-racism initiatives —heck, there’s even $1.2 million in cash set aside for “services for DACA recipients.”
And then there’s the Christmas present for Congress…
“The bill includes across-the-board increases for every federal entity, including the legislative branch, which would see a 16.5% funding boost if the bill becomes law. That increase for Congress is second only to funding for military construction and veterans, which get a 20.9% bump, according to an analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.” Fox News reports.
But when it comes to border security, the purse strings tighten —and Republicans are noticing.
The GOP managed to keep the Trump-era Title 42 in place after last-minute negotiations involving an amendment from Utah Senator Mike Lee. But when it comes to cash to beef up border security —nada. In fact, there’s actually language in the bill to prohibit it.
From Just The News:
North Carolina Republican Rep. Dan Bishop and his staff combed through the legislation all day Tuesday and identified some of the earmarks and controversial spending provisions in the full text.
Among Bishop’s findings was language that prohibits U.S. Customs and Border Protection from using its $1.5 billion in funding to “acquire, maintain or extend border security technology and capabilities, except for technology and capabilities to improve Border Patrol processing.”
Rep. Bishop shared his findings on Twitter.
“It expressly prohibits CBP funding from being used to improve border security,” Bishop tweeted, adding “… but at the same time, allocates $410 million towards border security for Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman,” he continued. “America Last in action.”
President of the National Border Patrol Council Brandon Judd shared his thoughts on Just the News Not Noise; he says he’s “disgusted.”
“I’m absolutely, just, disgusted that even the Republicans, some Republicans, are willing to throw the American people under the bus, that they’re not willing to provide border security,” Judd said. “If you look at the omnibus, it specifically says that they can’t provide money to actual border security measures. All it does is it’s going to process people through the system quicker and when we process people quicker, that just encourages more people to cross our borders illegally. That’s wrong.”
The bill has cleared the Senate and is expected to pass in the House.
And the border continues to burn.
