Conservatives shouldn’t help President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer fund a government that is destroying the safety of our families, the future of our children, and the strength of our economy.
From open borders and student debt amnesty to skyrocketing inflation, climate radicalism, and our public education system, there’s a lot on the ballot this November. Pelosi and Schumer could still win their way for another year, even if the conservatives win in the midterm elections.
The November big fight is not next week. It is next week.
The federal government is set to run out of funding on Oct. 1 unless Congress steps in and passes a temporary funding package, also called a “continuing resolution.” These short-term funding packages have long been a precursor to rushed negotiations and reckless spending.
Usually, this is how it works: Congress passes a September short-term funding package, which kicks the budget can down to December. Congressional leadership then uses the threat of a government shutdown over Christmas to gift rank-and-file members with a big lump of coal—a hastily written omnibus spending bill, negotiated in a secret backroom deal, which funds the government for the rest of the fiscal year.
It’s not uncommon for members of Congress to have less than 24 hours to read a 1,000-page bill before voting, and there are no real opportunities for amendments.
This year, if Congress extends funding only until Dec. 16, it will create another artificial deadline right before Christmas, and give Schumer and Pelosi the opportunity to cement Biden’s policy agenda for a third year. This means that Democrats will continue to hold the power of purse until September 2023, regardless of which party wins midterm elections.
The buzzer-beater funding battle happens almost every single year, and the American taxpayers pay for it every single time.
You can think back to December 2020, when the exact same lame duck setup resulted a massive, multithousand-page, $1.4 trillion omnibus with an additional $900 billion “COVID-19 relief” package. This legislation allowed a lame duck Congress to finance tax subsidies for special interest and extended and increased the frivolous COVID-19 unemployment benefit that ruined our economy.
A lame-duck Congress passed in December 2019 a slightly smaller, but offensively partisan, Congress “minibus” package that made dramatic changes to our nation’s health care system, adding $400 billion to our debt and expanding taxpayer funding for abortions through Obamacare insurance plans.
The legislation also gave handouts to certain politically favored industries and spent $25 million trying to study different ways to restrict Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
These are only two examples of the effects of a September continuing resolution that creates a December funding fight for lame ducks.
There is still hope for this coming year. All conservatives in Congress need to unite and reject any attempt by Schumer, Pelosi, or Biden to fund their agenda for the next year.
Conservatives in Congress should insist that the government be funded at its current spending levels through January. This would allow the next Congress to act on the will of the voters, and fund the government according the priorities set forth by Election Day.
Republican Senators. Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, and Ted Cruz of Texas have been leaders on this issue, laying out their arguments in a recent Fox News opinion piece. Rep. Chip Roy, R.Texas, is the House’s representative. gathered a coalition to oppose a December deadline.
They argue that a “clean” funding package that expires after December is the only way that elected officials can be accountable to the American people.
Legislative lame-duck is bad policy and fails to meet the standards of representative government. Funding the government is one the most important duties of Congress. It should only be done properly by those voters elected to represent their values and interests.
Conservatives will not wait until December to be critical of this same lame duck strategy. They have seen this scheme so many times that they know what is next. The choice they must now make is to stand up and fight for the American people or give Pelosi and Schumer the power to pass Biden’s spending and inflation agenda for a third year.
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