Rep. Gosar to Vote NO on Massive Omnibus Spending Bill

Statement

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement announcing he will be voting no on the massive $1.1 trillion spending measure, H.R. 2029 the Consolidated Appropriations Act (omnibus), scheduled for a vote in the House on Friday, December 18:

"Once again I find myself infuriated about out-of-control, wasteful spending and a lack of leadership in Washington D.C. No member can actually read 2,242 pages of text and over 1,000 pages of explanatory material in 54 hours. I am not Nancy Pelosi and I will not vote to pass a bill just to find out later what it contains. Such actions are irresponsible and silly. I wish that I could put all the blame for this flawed bill on big spending Democrats who are ignorant of the fiscal crisis within which we live, but I can't. Congress is controlled by Republicans. Yet, somehow this is the worst omnibus "deal' for Republicans since I've been here.

"The American people gave Congress a clear mandate to reduce spending and shrink the size of the federal government as well as to rein in a lawless and dangerously incompetent Obama Administration. Except for passage of the sequester in August 2011, no other law has been enacted that has made meaningful cuts to federal spending. This irresponsible bill blows through those budget caps established just a few short years ago. This terrible deal includes no new riders to hold this rogue administration accountable and gives Democrats everything they wanted and more. Westerners and conservatives are rightfully outraged that our negotiators gave away the farm in this bill.

"It doesn't have to be this way. We must have the courage to fix our broken budget process and return to regular order. I refuse to go along with the status quo of more wasteful federal spending and I refuse to let the Obama Administration continue to force their misguided ideology through regulatory overreach. As long as I represent hard-working Arizonans, I will never stop fighting to end this madness. This is my line in the sand and I refuse to back down. If we have to stay here through Christmas to get the people's work done, then so be it. But I can't in good conscious support a bill that abandons the priorities of my constituents and that will be extremely harmful to future generations."

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