Nooga.com - Fleischmann Votes in Favor of $1 Trillion Spending Bill, DesJarlais Votes Against

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By James Harrison

House members overwhelmingly passed a $1 trillion, 1,200-page omnibus bill to keep the government afloat well into the 2012 fiscal year.

The bill past just hours before the expiration of a stopgap spending bill providing funding for government operations.

The Senate is widely expected to pass the bill in the days following the 296-121 vote. But while 3rd District Rep. Chuck Fleischmann voted in favor of the measure, both of his neighboring congressmen cast their votes against it.
Jordan Powell, press secretary for Fleischmann, said the congressman was "frustrated with the process" that led him to vote in favor of the resolution. According to the spokesperson, Fleischmann was ultimately able to support it due to the combination of it being smaller than last year's budget, ensuring the cuts of 28 programs, and maintaining certain pro-life provisions.

"Chuck was not very happy about the process by which this bill came into fruition," Powell said. "He does not agree with conducting government in a way where you have to wrap all these things up at the end of the year. The House has passed a budget bill and several jobs bills, while the Senate has continued to stonewall everything. But there's some good things in there, and it was an OK step in the process of cutting spending."

Rep. Scott DesJarlais, who represents the 4th District, said he could not vote for the measure because it did not line up with Rep. Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" budget plan proposed earlier this year. Ryan, who represents Wisconsin's 1st District, voted in favor of the bill.

"Unfortunately, the spending levels set forth in today's omnibus package exceed those in the Path to Prosperity and therefore I could not vote in favor of it," DesJarlais said in a statement. "It is impossible to get our nation's fiscal house in order unless we have a budget framework to work from. House Republicans have done their job and passed a budget, now it's time for Senate Democrats to do the same."

Republican Rep. John Duncan of Tennessee's 2nd District also voted against the measure.

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