Omnibus Appropriations

Floor Speech

Mr. McCONNELL. With regard to the bill before us, the Omnibus appropriations bill that arrived from the House certainly is an important piece of legislation, but it is not an emergency. Congress approves it every year. There is no need to rush something Congress approves every year. In fact, in January I recommended several times to the President and to the Democratic leaders in Congress that we move the omnibus before the stimulus. By determining what we would fund in an omnibus first, Democratic leaders would have been encouraged to be more timely, temporary, and targeted as they put together the stimulus. Instead, we have had the order reversed. The result is that now we have significant double spending showing up in both the stimulus and in the omnibus. We have known about the Friday deadline for months, so no one should suddenly point to it now as a reason to rush $410 billion in spending.

Americans are getting whiplash from all the spending we are doing around here. Let me say that again. Americans are getting whiplash from all the spending we are doing around here. We need to slow down and consider the consequences of every dollar we spend. What we know about this bill already is cause for serious concern. As I said, it adds money for 122 programs. It adds money for 122 programs that were already in the stimulus. It represents an 8-percent increase over last year's bill.

Much of the funding it adds or eliminates calls for scrutiny. The new administration has repeatedly criticized Congress for rushing through legislation before the public has a chance to review it. During his campaign, the President said he wouldn't sign any nonemergency spending bill the American people had not had at least 5 days to review on the White House Web site. There is no reason for us to rush this massive bill when the White House has already promised it would not sign it without the requisite 5-day review. I would suggest, as we begin this debate, that the House prepare a short-term continuing resolution. There is no reason for either the Senate or the American people to feel artificially rushed, particularly on a bill of this magnitude.

It may seem quaint to some people, but a month ago many of us were concerned about a $1.2 trillion deficit. Then we watched it grow, as we passed a $1 trillion stimulus bill and a $33 billion bill for SCHIP. Then last week the President proposed a $3.6 trillion budget, including a $634 billion ``downpayment'' on health care reform and a major tax increase on small businesses. We expect to be asked to spend $1 to $2 trillion to stabilize the financial sector, and we have been told the administration's housing plan, which is set to start this week, will cost a quarter of a trillion dollars.

We need to step back, look at the bigger picture, and think about what we are doing. That means slowing down before we spend another $410 billion.

I yield the floor.

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