Showing posts with label Cromnibus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cromnibus. Show all posts

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Pork on Their Way Out the Door: Departing Lawmakers Got Perks Into Spending Bills

◼ With nothing to lose, outgoing legislators, whichever way they voted, no doubt had an easier time with their decision, said Tracy Carlton, a Republican political strategist.

“Some of them stuck to their guns, and said, ‘no way,’” he said. “Others saw the opportunity to fund pet projects one last time and took advantage of it. Who can blame them?”

That group includes Rep. Dan Maffei, a New York Democrat who lost in November but spearheaded funding in the National Defense Authorization Act for the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, N.Y. The NDAA goes hand-in-hand with the cromnibus as the government’s major spending bills.

Projects like the Tubman park drew the ire of fiscal conservatives. It’s not that a museum honoring the former slave, abolitionist and underground railroad legend might not be worthy. But funding of projects that have little, or nothing, to do with defense shouldn’t be in a defense bill, they say.

‘Land Grab’

What’s worse, says Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), is that the project is part of an “extreme federal land grab” that puts hundreds of thousands of acres under federal control.

The NDAA provisions would designate nearly 250,000 acres of new wilderness, protect tens of thousands of additional acres from drilling and mining, and create a slew of new and expanded national parks and reserves.

The Tubman park provision, Maffei said in a statement, is “a huge victory for Auburn and all of Central New York.”

Therein lies the problem, conservatives and watchdog groups say.

“Everyone talks a good game about cutting spending and trimming the fat, but when it comes to their own district, God forbid anyone mess with the pork,” Carlton said.
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Thursday, January 1, 2015

Really Fine Print of Cromnibus Included Billions for Special Interests

◼ "This is how Congress gets things done. Put everything into one pot, make it as a vague as possible — and push it through at the last minute.” - ROB LONGLEY/PJMedia

If you want to get to the bottom of things, a wise man once said, well then, start at the bottom of things. Sound advice for most anything life can throw at you, including, it would seem, federal spending bills.

Take Page 1,602, for instance, of the so-called “cromnibus” measure passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama before leaving for his holiday break in Hawaii. It sits near the bottom of the 3-foot-tall, $1.1 trillion spending package for the 2015 fiscal year. It’s the measure’s penultimate page, in fact — and one critics say epitomizes all that is wrong with government and the political machine that runs it: wasteful spending, cronyism, bureaucratic obfuscation, undue influence of special interests, and a shameless lack of transparency and due diligence.

“See how far you get before your eyes glaze over,” said Wes Parker of Fairfax, Va., an election law attorney who does pro bono work with several government watchdog groups.... KEEP READING
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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Tucked deep inside the 1,603-page federal spending measure is a provision that ends the federal government's prohibition on medical marijuana.

◼ Congress quietly ends federal government's ban on medical marijuana - LA Times

More important, from the standpoint of activists, Congress' action marked the emergence of a new alliance in marijuana politics: Republicans are taking a prominent role in backing states' right to allow use of a drug the federal government still officially classifies as more dangerous than cocaine.

"This is a victory for so many," said the measure's coauthor, Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa. The measure's approval, he said, represents "the first time in decades that the federal government has curtailed its oppressive prohibition of marijuana."...
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Monday, December 15, 2014

It would feel more satisfying to try to de-fund amnesty right now, but Dan makes an interesting case for why it's more of a winning strategy to pass CRomnibus now and hold the real fight in February.

◼ Passing CRomnibus now, waiting until February for the amnesty fight, is the right strategy - Dan Calabrese/Herman Cain TV

Play to win, friends.

A lot of conservatives are upset that House Speaker John Boehner chose not to strip amnesty funding from the so-called CRomnibus spending bill that passed the House last week. In fact, by the time the bill passed we actually saw the absurd spectacle of President Obama and Speaker Boehner working together to get it passed.

That surely didn’t help win conservative fans to the bill.

I’d prefer to see amnesty stopped right this second too, and I’ve certainly had my share of disagreements with Speaker Boehner over the way he battles (or doesn’t battle) the president. But let me explain the rationale behind this strategy, because it does make sense....

It’s not as satisfying as going to war with Obama over the issue immediately, but it sets up the Republican-controlled Congress to actually win this battle. Sometimes the smartest strategy isn’t the one that feels the best, and this is one of those times.
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Matt Drudge says spending bill passed because NSA has 'dirt' on John Boehner



◼ "Obama got EVERYTHING," Drudge tweeted Friday. "NSA dirt on Boehner must be incredible. Chicago wins."
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Yes, Congress can stop Obama's immigration action

◼ Think Congress can't stop President Obama's unilateral executive action on immigration? It can. - Byron York/Washington Examiner @ByronYork
All money spent by the federal government is under the ultimate control of Congress. If they choose, lawmakers can issue exquisitely detailed instructions on how federal dollars are spent. For proof, look no further than the 1,695-page spending bill passed by Congress over the weekend.

A particular phrase, "none of the funds," appears in the bill more than 450 times. In each case, Congress used those words to dictate how money can and cannot be spent.

The first two times the phrase appears in the bill concern a $1.2 billion appropriation for salaries and expenses at the Farm Service Agency, part of the Agriculture Department. "None of the funds available to the Farm Service Agency shall be used to close Farm Service Agency county offices," the bill says. In addition, "none of the funds available to the Farm Service Agency shall be used to permanently relocate county-based employees that would result in an office with two or fewer employees without prior notification and approval of the Committee on Appropriations."

That's pretty specific. The Agriculture Department can't close Farm Service Agencies or reorganize them, if the result is an office with fewer than three employees, unless specifically approved by Congress. That's using the power of the purse to dictate precisely what a government agency can do.

That level of detail continues throughout the bill....

Those are just a few examples of Congress using its power of the purse to tell the executive branch precisely what it may and may not do. There are many, many, many more — just in the new bill.

And that's nothing new; this sort of restriction, and many of the specific ones in the new spending bill, have been in appropriations measures for years and years.

Under Obama's immigration order, federal offices will process the cases of illegal immigrants in a variety of ways, awarding them work permits, assigning Social Security numbers, and distributing federal transfer payments. Given the routine restrictions of all sorts of federal actions in the new spending bill, and the thousands of such restrictions in similar bills over the years, does anyone believe Congress cannot limit what the president does on immigration?

Yes, lawmakers have to be united to act. But if they choose, they can stop Obama cold. KEEP READING

◼ The 'nuclear option' worked for Dems. Will the GOP reconsider? - Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner
On Nov. 21, 2013, Senate Democrats made a historic rules change to end filibusters of judicial and executive branch nominees.

The move, which lowered the confirmation threshold from 60 votes to 51 votes, was considered so drastic that lawmakers labeled it the “nuclear option.”

It could soon backfire on Democrats, now that Republicans are about to take the Senate majority and, by 2016, possibly the White House....
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Sunday, December 14, 2014

REPUBLICANS IN LAME-DUCK CONGRESS LOOK FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR


◼ link - Donald Lambro/Human Events

The nation’s divided Congress battled down to the wire this week over its budget for the rest of this fiscal year, hoping to avoid a government shutdown.

The $1.01 trillion spending bill must be passed before midnight Thursday, though at this writing few were placing any bets on meeting that deadline. Still, Congress has dodged budget deadlines before and may do so again — if for no other reason than to drive a stake through the heart of a bitterly divided, unpopular legislature that can’t seem to agree on anything except going home for the holidays.

This was the last gasp of a lame-duck Congress before the Republicans can welcome their strengthened majority in the House and take control of the Senate in January — and begin to chart a new agenda to deal with America’s most pressing problems....
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Saturday, December 13, 2014

#CRomnibus Passes 56-40

◼ The Senate passed the CRomnibus bill 56-40, and also defeated a Ted Cruz constitutional point of order based on Obama’s amnesty executive action, with significant numbers of Republican Senators sided with Obama. - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion











DRUDGE:
MERRY CHRISTMAS: GOVT GOODIES FOR ALL!
EVEN PORK FOR PIGS...
Republican accuses leadership of breaking promise to kill bill...
Even First Lady's Lunch Program Funded!
BoehnerObama Deals Have Increased Debt $3.8 TRILLION...
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Senate meets for rare Saturday session over elusive spending bill

Final passage of spending bill will likely come on Monday. Not everybody happy.

◼ Nation agog as US Senate actually … works on Saturday -= Jazz Shaw/HotAir
The original plan looked fairly simple. After much wrath and acrimony, the cromnibus passed the House and moved on to the upper chamber. In order to comply with Senate rules, a five day spending extension would provide a bit more time to get business done and the vote would be held over until Monday. At that time, several people who love having face time with the cameras would make some impassioned speeches, some amendments would be demanded (and fail to pass or even get a vote) and the bill would be passed. The Senators would be able to take the weekend off, put in a few hours on Monday and then head home for the holidays, secure in the knowledge that the government would be funded for an extended period and everyone could work on wrapping their Christmas gifts.

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men…

But in a surprise development, some of McConnell’s junior members defied the agreement after he left....
◼ Senate averts shutdown fears; Democrats rush to confirm nominees - Deseret News/Utah
Their power ebbing, Senate Democrats launched a last-minute drive Saturday to confirm roughly 20 of President Barack Obama's nominees, and several Republicans blamed tea party-backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for creating an opening for the outgoing majority party to exploit.

Lawmakers took a break in their intrigue long enough to send Obama legislation that provides funds for the government to remain open until Wednesday at midnight, easing concerns of a shutdown. A separate, $1.1 trillion long-term funding bill remained in limbo.
◼ CRUZ, LEE WIN WAR WITH HARRY REID, FORCE VOTE AGAINST EXECUTIVE AMNESTY - Matthew Boyle/Breitbart
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is keeping senators in Washington for a rare Saturday session—and risking a government shutdown—after he went to extraordinary lengths to block Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) from forcing a vote to block President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty.

What happened on Friday night is a series of procedural tactics that Cruz and Lee engaged in with Reid. Cruz tried to force a constitutional point of order—which requires a 51-vote threshold—to challenge the constitutionality of Obama’s executive amnesty. Meanwhile, Lee was pushing an amendment to the cromnibus spending bill that just passed the House that would have blocked funding for Obama’s executive amnesty implementation.

Using parliamentary tricks, Reid blocked both Cruz’s and Lee’s measures, then sought unanimous consent to adjourn the Senate until Monday—at which time Senators would have been brought back in for passage for the cromnibus. But in consultation with Cruz, Lee objected to unanimous consent to adjourn the Senate until Monday unless Reid would allow a vote on the effort to block funding for Obama’s executive amnesty. Because Reid wouldn’t agree to allow the vote, he decided to keep Senators in Washington for the weekend.

Because Reid needs to, per Senate rules, fill the timeframe until senators can actually vote on cloture on the cromnibus bill—which they can first technically do at 1 AM early Sunday morning—Reid is now attempting to force through several controversial Obama nominees like NRA-opposed surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy, Deputy Secretary of State nominee Tony Blinken, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director nominee Sarah Saldana....
◼ If Cruz And Lee Don't Trust McConnell or Boehner, Why Should We? - Dan Riehl/Breitbart InstaBlog,
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Friday, December 12, 2014

It’s time for Republicans to do what we said — to fight to #StopObamasAmnesty



Sen. Ted Cruz Urges Colleagues to Stop President Obama’s Unconstitutional Amnesty















◼ Headline correction: “Ted Cruz makes his mark” (#CRomnibus) - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion

The differing treatment of Ted Cruz and Elizabeth Warren pretty much sums up the state of implicit media bias.

Update: God Bless Senator Mike Lee too:



◼ Sen. Ted Cruz calls out Obama on amnesty: A ‘presidential temper tantrum’ is not discourse - Twitchy



◼ Cruz: Let’s not play Santa to K Street - The Hill

◼ Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Jeff Sessions Pushing for Defund Amnesty Vote - Daily Caller

◼ Senate objections to spending bill slowing, but shouldn't stop, final passage - Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner

"Every senator in this body should be put on record whether he or she believes it is constitutional for a president to disregard, to ignore federal immigration laws, and to grant blanket amnesty to millions in defiance of both the laws on the books and the voters" - Ted Cruz
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CROMNIBUS: A WINTER FESTIVAL OF UNRESTRAINED SPENDING

◼ As they had a habit of saying throughout the interstellar empire of “Dune,” the spice must flow. - John Hayward/Human Events @Doc_o

Money is once more flowing out of Congress to all manner of follies and outrages, thanks to an omnibus spending bill that funds everything except Homeland Security through September of 2015 – throwing away every scrap of leverage the incoming Republican majority could possibly exercise against Emperor Obama, ensuring that no one outside the authors of Democrat Party fundraising email spam will be talking about shutdowns, and effectively neutering freshly-elected conservatives. The GOP leadership can get through another year with its favorite wheezy excuse for not standing up and fighting for anything: Our hands are tied. Sure, the knots are a bit clumsy, but that’s to be expected when you tie your own hands. It’ll be good enough for the permanent Beltway culture, which can have a very merry Christmas, riding their one-horse open sleighs down streets coated with a fresh blizzard of taxpayer dollars, jingling all the way....

The Republican leadership isn’t just bad at standing up for its principles and fulfilling commitments to its voters. It seems institutionally incapable of understanding, as Democrats do, that power won today must be used to set the stage for tomorrow’s elections. Democrats target constituencies and service them, including constituencies that aren’t actually American citizens. Republicans try to figure out how badly they can get away with disappointing their base while they service a Beltway culture some of them fear, and others profit from.

If the Republican leadership was smart, they’d be looping events such as Jonathan Gruber’s disastrous House testimony into a big-picture assault on arrogant, wasteful government, and reminding the hard-working, rules-obeying American taxpayer how much contempt Democrats hold them in. A proper budget debate right after the holidays would be a great way to do that. The Democrats fear nothing more than a sharp Republican Party playing that kind of hardball and appealing directly to the working middle class, which is so comprehensively betrayed by the Democrat philosophy of rewarding its big contributors and powerful special interests at the expense of everyone else. There’s a lot of junk in this “cromnibus” spending bill that could be used to buttress such a case, such as a juicy payoff to outgoing Majority Leader Harry Reid’s casino backers… but then, in order for Republican leaders to make hay over such corruption, they’d have to give up their pork and payoffs, and they don’t want that.

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Funding for amnesty hasn't been eliminated - yet - but this might be a pretty good first step toward it. Read to find out why.

◼ CRomnibus passes House: Dodd-Frank changes in, amnesty de-funding out - Herman Cain

On to the Senate.

Neither the process nor the result was pretty. In the end, John Boehner was John Boehner insofar as he wanted more than anything to avoid a government shutdown, which meant he would sacrifice amnesty de-funding to get a spending bill passed if that's what it took. And it did, because 57 Democrats came to his rescue by supporting CRomnibus - even though they were furious about the rollback of some of Dodd-Frank - after 67 Republicans bailed because the bill let Obama's executive amnesty off the hook.

So the bill is a moderate's dream and is hated by both the left and the right, which sets up some interesting dynamics when the Senate takes its turn. But in a way, amnesty doesn't get off the hook entirely...

If Republicans play this right - I know, I know - this could prove to be more of a victory on the amnesty question than it seems today. By passing a bill that funds the entire government except Homeland Security through September, they've removed the Republicans-want-to-shut-down-the-government nonsense from the equation and now set up a situation where Obama pretty much has to negotiate with them come January to get funding restored for DHS.

I think that was always the idea - that you wait until you've really got control of both houses after the first of the year and then you put the squeeze to him. Passing CRomnibus under the current Congress puts you in a stronger position to do that because you take away the shutdown as Obama's opportunity to change the media narrative and make Republicans the bad guys.

◼ Warren, Vitter team up against Dodd-Frank change in spending bill - JOSEPH LAWLER/Washington Examiner
◼ Hannity Unloads on ‘Cowardly’ John Boehner After House Passes $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill: ‘We’ve Got Our Own Gruber’ - The Blaze
◼ BOEHNER HAILS 'BIPARTISAN' CROMNIBUS VOTE; VOWS IMMIGRATION FIGHT IN 2015 - Charlie Spiering/Breitbart

In a nod to conservative opposition, Boehner vowed an immigration fight in 2015, when Congress returns with a majority in both houses of Congress.

“[B]y the House’s action, we are setting up a direct challenge to the president’s unilateral actions on immigration next month, when there will be new Republican majorities in both chambers," he announced. "The Senate should act on this bipartisan legislation in short order.”
Mark Levin calls it embarrassing.
◼ Conservatives Blast Boehner for Funding ‘Obama’s Amnesty’ - Daily Signal
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Here Are the 67 Republicans Who Voted Against the Massive 'CRomnibus' Spending Bill

◼ The massive $1 trillion “CRomnibus” spending bill squeaked through the U.S. House of Representatives with a 219-206 vote on Thursday night. - The Blaze



That means more Democrats than Republicans opposed the spending bill as only 57 Democrats voted for it.





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Thursday, December 11, 2014

Cromnibus Vote Postponed















◼ Report: 'Omnibus Contains $2.5 Billion to Accommodate Illegal Immigrants and Refugees' - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard

DRUDGE:
◼ THEY CAN'T FIND THE VOTES? - S.A. Miller and Stephen Dinan/Washington Times
BOEHNER EMBARRASSMENT AS HOUSE NEARLY KILLS SPENDING BLOAT ON PROCEDURAL VOTE...
OBAMA TO THE RESCUE...
Works phones to rally support...
Dem: Don't be intimidated by him...
Voters jam Capitol switchboard...
Budget office prepares for shutdown...
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Budget Deal Looks Like Betrayal Of GOP 2014 'Wave' Voters

◼ link - Investors Business Daily
Leadership: As Congress races to pass a budget and avoid a government shutdown, Republican leaders need to slow down, take a deep breath and ask themselves if they really want to betray their historic victory at the polls.

Signs are already popping up that the budget deal being worked on behind the scenes will be a big disappointment to voters who thought they were voting for big change in Washington.

Newly elected conservative members, part of the historic GOP wave in 2014, fear Speaker John Boehner is working with other GOP leaders and Democrats on a $1 trillion-plus omnibus budget that end-runs conservatives, with few members having even read it....

The speaker and other GOP moderates fear they, and not the Democrats, will be blamed for shutting down the government. And polls show they may be right.

Even so, the GOP won a sweeping victory in November, giving it the strongest position in the House since 1929. That didn't happen because voters wanted more of what Democrats offered. They wanted real change.
◼ Boehner Drops 1,603-Page Omnibus Spending Bill, Securing Future of Obama's Amnesty - Red Flag News
◼ GOP sinking on a ship of timidity, squandering historic win - Charles Hurt/Washington Times
ANALYSIS/OPINION: Call it the mysterious case of the Incredible Shrinking GOP.

Barely one month ago, the party sailed to victory in one of the biggest rout election waves of the past century. They ran the board and took control of the U.S. Senate. They grew to historic levels in the U.S. House. The Democratic Party was left in tatters in state, local and governor races across the country....

But today, just a few weeks later, before GOPers even take hold of their new reins of power, the party is crying poverty. They are stricken with paralysis. House Speaker John A. Boehner, known for his weeping, begs powerlessness.

“Frankly, we have limited options and limited abilities to deal with it directly,” Mr. Boehner said last week when asked about President Obama’s unconstitutional executive action to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens presently living illegally in the U.S.

“Limited options?” “Limited abilities?” We have an unbridled madman in the White House right now taking a machete to the U.S. Constitution and the leader of the opposition party that was just thrust to power in a historic rejection of the president and his cleptocratic policies is now talking about “limited” options and abilities?

Funny, I don’t recall a single Republican running in a single race this year on a campaign that Republicans in Congress have only “limited” options and abilities to stop Mr. Obama. No, in fact, every single one of them ran their entire campaigns on the singular promise that we have to vote for Republicans so they could stop Mr. Obama. And Americans voted.

Now the chads have not even settled yet and already we are being told the whole meaning of the election is something different now. Now that they have won.

Either Republicans did not really believe their campaign promises, they were lying or they are just scared to keep those promises to stand up to Mr. Obama and do everything in their power to stop him....

Voters handed you more power than they have trusted you with in nearly a decade. Now is the time to use that power with wisdom and vision and principle.

If not now, when? If not right after winning a landslide election, when?
◼ OMNIBUS CONTAINS CASINO CRONY KICKBACK FOR HARRY REID AND HIS LAS VEGAS DONORS - Matthew Boyle/Breitbart
On page 217, Title VI of the bill, is the “Travel Promotion, Enhancement and Modernization Act of 2014.” It reauthorizes, extends, and changes the “Travel Promotion Act of 2009”—which, as Breitbart News has previously reported, is a nothing more than a kickback to Reid and his casino pals in Las Vegas.

This omnibus spending bill—which is supposed to be just an Appropriations bill, not dealing with reauthorizations like this—reauthorizes the Travel Promotion Act program for five extra years through 2020. It was supposed to sunset and end in 2015, and probably would have under a Republican-controlled Congress. Yet since Boehner is working to cut this deal with the Democrats in the lame duck post-election session of Congress rather than doing a clean Continuing Resolution (CR) when the new GOP Senate takes over, he included it in this bill.
◼ BOEHNER OMNIBUS GIVES SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS UNDER OBAMA AMNESTY - Matthew Boyle/Breitbart
Pages 958 and 959 of the 1,603-page omnibus spending bill from House Speaker John Boehner include a provision that gives Social Security benefits to illegal aliens under President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty....

By not including language saying that Social Security benefits can’t go to illegal aliens under the executive amnesty—just as they didn’t include language going after funding for the implementation of the executive amnesty itself—Republicans are completely surrendering, ensuring that millions of illegal aliens will get Social Security.
◼ BLOOD IN THE WATER: TEAMSTERS, JIMMY HOFFA, JR. TO CONGRESS: KILL THE OMNIBUS BILL - Matthew Boyle/Breitbart
Speaker John Boehner has been working with Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader, and her whip Steny Hoyer to try to wrangle enough Democratic votes for the bill as Boehner won’t be able to pass it with Republican votes. But on Wednesday Pelosi expressed serious concerns with elements of the bill.
DRUDGE:
REPUBLICAN BETRAYAL:
OBAMACARE FULLY FUNDED...
AMNESTY TOO!

◼ 38 Tweets About #CRomnibus, the Government Spending Bill Inspiring Bipartisan Opposition - Daily Signal





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