In what has become an annual Christmas tradition, Republicans and Democrats joined hands to celebrate the birth of … another omnibus spending bill. Come on, you didn’t think I was going to say Jesus, did you? The bill funds the government for the rest of the fiscal year, at which time, another short-term bill will be necessary to enable them to punt the issue past the 2020 election.
Besides the fact that this is simply the latest example of Congress not doing its job, regardless of the party controlling the agenda, it’s also an example of how the GOP has completely abandoned their principles of smaller government, reduced spending, and fiscal responsibility.
With trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, there’s no shortage of reasons as to why this budget deal is a bad idea. Not the least of which is the increase in spending of $390 billion on top of last year’s spending increases to finance Obama’s priorities.
Speaking of Obama, did you know that budget deficits near the end of his second term were between $400 – 600 billion? Just sayin’.
But back to the omnibus. As my friend Daniel Horowitz at Conservative Review points out, the budget deal likely to be signed by Trump is loaded with spending priorities that break nearly every campaign promise he and the GOP made in 2016. And it breaks his 2018 promise to never sign a last-minute budget deal like this one — a promise he made after doing exactly that following an earlier veto threat.
President Trump: "Therefore, as a matter of national security, I have signed this #omnibus budget bill." He continues, ""I say to Congress: I will never sign another bill like this again. I'm not going to do it again. Nobody read it." pic.twitter.com/uPrUjJ9YB3
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 23, 2018
This spending deal isn’t only bad news for conservatives who believe in smaller, less costly, and fiscally responsible government, it also bad news because it provides financing for programs aimed at finding new ways to disarm America.
$25 million will be spent by the Centers for Disease Control and The National Institutes of Health to research “gun violence.” While that amount may seem insignificant, Congressional Second Amendment Caucus Chair Thomas Massie sees it as a direct threat to gun rights. (emphasis mine)
“The inherent bias at NIH and CDC in deciding how this money will be spent will compel left wing researchers to compete with each other to cook up the most anti-gun results possible.
“As with the climate change research industry and the privately funded gun-violence research industry, this newly christened government-funded gun-violence research industry will work mainly to justify its own existence, and unbiased voices won’t be funded or even tolerated.”
Let me not here that Obama ordered similar research by the CDC following the Sandy Hook shootings, but it backfired on him when the agency’s research failed to provide the evidence he and his anti-gun extremist buddies were looking for.
Under Trump, we’re getting record deficit spending and government programs designed to void the Second Amendment … just like we got from Obama.
But at least he’s not Hillary. Right?
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative.
Follow the Strident Conservative on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to receive podcasts of radio commentaries: iTunes | Stitcher | Tune In | RSS
