Stop Omnibus Bill by Shutting Down Government or Continuing Resolution

GOP senators kill spending bill over $8 billion in earmarks
Source: LA Times Republicans on Friday reveled in a victory over Government Spending that showcased their resolve in the fight over the federal purse. By killing a $1.3-trillion spending bill, the GOP extinguished a sheaf of earmarked expenditures and drew in straying GOP colleagues — even those who had inserted the Earmarks and helped write the bill, which would have funded the government through September 2011. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nevada) withdrew the bill Thursday night in t...

Inouye defends omnibus appropriations bill
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) forcefully defended the abandoned $1.1 Trillion omnibus appropriations bill in a Senate floor Speech Friday evening and argued that opponents of the bill were wrong to say the 2010 Midterm Elections were about ending Earmarks. Inouye's remarks came as the Senate approved a three-day continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown Saturday. The Senate is moving toward approving a two-month CR that would fund the government a...

Palin Calls Tax Deal Lousy
CBS reports: In a rare interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Friday criticized the $858 billion Tax Cut bill that passed through Congress early this morning, calling the Legislation “a lousy deal” that “creates a temporary economy with even more uncertainty for businesses and it does increase taxes.” “I think it’s a lousy deal and we can do better for the American People,” Palin t...

Hill extends stop-gap bill
Congress extended a stop-gap spending bill Friday night to keep the government funded through next Tuesday as lawmakers and the White House try to hammer out a longer term answer to the year-end Budget Crisis. The action puts to rest fears of a government shutdown over the weekend, when the current continuing resolution was due to expire Saturday night. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 House and Senate approval came in quick order following the collapse Thursday evening of a...

Democrats race clock, try to save programs
WASHINGTON — Two large defense contracts that would produce up to 900 jobs in Lynn and Pittsfield are in jeopardy after the Senate eliminated a major spending bill loaded with Earmarks this week, sending Massachusetts’ congressional delegation scrambling to get the funding added to another Budget bill before the end of their lame-duck session, which is expected to come next week. The programs — a backup engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and 10 new Navy coastal combat sh...

Earmarks foul body politic
Earmarks are perfectly fine if they go to a nice enough project, says Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton), who helped bring us the worst Financial Crisis since the Great Depression because he also thought subprime Mortgages were fine. I don’t believe this man has ever been right on anything. Think of him as a kind of reverse thermometer. When he says it’s hot, it’s cold. And when he smiles on earmarks, you ought to frown. These devices for localized gift giving came within a whisker ...

ED MORRISSEY ON THE OMNIBUS BILLS DEATH: Thank PorkBusters. How often do omnibus spending bills
ED MORRISSEY ON THE Omnibus Bill’S DEATH: Thank PorkBusters. How often do omnibus spending bills go down to defeat? Approximately … never, as Dave Weigel reminds us, and pork is usually the reason why. Not only do omnibus bills appear only when the budgeting process has failed and funding becomes an urgent issue, they also get so large and stuffed with perks that few dare to challenge them. In thi...

A Budget Battle Looms Next Year
By CARL HULSE NYT WASHINGTON — The collapse of a government-wide spending package in the final days of this Congressional session sets up a politically charged fiscal showdown early next year, testing the determination of Republicans about to take over the House with promises to slash an array of domestic programs. As Congress struggled to assemble a stopgap measure to finance the government at least into the first months of 2011, House and Senate Republicans on Friday hailed their ability t...

Congress pontificated against earmarks, then then packed bill with pork
Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: Still the prince of pork (AP) More than two dozen senators — most of them Republicans — put hundreds of homestate projects in the $1.3 Trillion bill to fund the Federal Government even though they recently voted to ban so-called Earmarks. The effort to pass the 1,924-page bill collapsed Thursday night after complaints by Conservatives over its complexity and size and the relatively few days to be devoted to debating its merits. Anti-spending tea ...

House funds govt for 3 days
Published: Dec. 17, 2010 at 5:47 PM WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. House Friday decided to fund the government only for three more days, meaning members will have to stay in Washington next week. House and Senate negotiators have been working on a Budget bill and House leaders had hoped an agreement could be worked out to allow for adjournment. But without an agreement in sight, House leaders decided to fund the government for just 72 hours and reconvene Tuesday, The Hill reported. "There...

MERRY CONGRESS BABY!
It is interesting to see how different traditions of people and countries are broken for the benefit of better establishment. Take for instance Prince William’s decision to exclude President Obama and wife Michelle from his Wedding.  Prince William’s decision to break tradition by not inviting an American president to the royal wedding is a slap in the face of Obama and Michelle.  The American media’s darling royal couple of America has been snubbed by the real royal ...

Drum agency funding unclear
WASHINGTON — The collapse of a year-end spending bill in the Senate has sent Rep. William L. Owens and New York's senators scrambling to save the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization and salvage tens of millions of dollars in construction next year at Fort Drum. In a preview of what a ban on home-district Earmarks may look like in practice, the FDRHPO has no immediate prospect for Federal Funding that has paid for its day-to-day operations since former Rep. John M. McHugh ...

Extension Of Bush Tax Cuts Passes; Pork Laden Spending Bill Goes Down
So I’m sure you’ve heard by now. The House of Representatives passed the bill that will extend the Bush Tax Cuts, renew Unemployment Benefits for 13 months, and cut Social Security taxes for one year late last night. The roll call showed it was a total landslide at 277-148. Democrats had 139 yeas and 112 nays while the Republicans has 138-36 Go here to see the roll call and find out how they voted. The Democrats tried to pass a higher estate tax but that went down in flames also at 2...

Collapse of the omnibus spending bill: rise of the 'tea party Congress'?
Some see ideals of Tea Party movement at play in Senate, after a huge spending bill loaded with Earmarks is scuttled after GOP lawmakers thought twice about it....

With Omnibus Dead, How Will The Government Fund Health Reform Implementation?
Last night, citing overwhelming opposition from Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) dropped the omnibus spending package that included some $1 billion in funding for health reform and instead opted for a much smaller continuing resolution (CR) to extend federal spending authority into the new year. With the defeat of the omnibus, Republicans are pushing Reid to issue a CR at the 2008 levels, which may not include additional Health Care dollars since the Affordable Care Act p...

With Omnibus Dead, How Will The Government Fund Health Reform Implementation?
With Omnibus Dead, How Will The Government Fund Health Reform Implementation? Last night, citing overwhelming opposition from Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) dropped the omnibus spending package that included some $1 billion in funding for health reform and instead opted for a much smaller continuing resolution (CR) to extend federal spending authority into the new year. With the defeat of the omnibus, Republicans are pushing Reid to issue a CR at the 2008 levels, which...

GOP senators kill spending bill over $8 billion in earmarks
Reporting from Washington — Republicans on Friday reveled in a victory over Government Spending that showcased their resolve in the fight over the federal purse. By killing a $1.3-trillion spending bill, the GOP extinguished a sheaf of earmarked expenditures and drew in straying GOP colleagues — even those who had inserted the Earmarks and helped write the bill, which would have funded the government through September 2011. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nevada) withdrew th...

Obama pushes for nuke treaty ratification (AP)
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is warning that failure to ratify a new Arms Control treaty with Russia will undercut American leadership on scores of challenges it faces worldwide. Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to plead with the Senate to approve the treaty, a dearly held Foreign Policy priority in the waning days of Congress' lame-duck session. Obama said without action on the pact, known as New START, "we'll risk undermining American leadership not only...

Weekly Roundup - Dec. 18
Wall Street Journal - ObamaCare loses int he courts. Michigan View - Corporate welfare is Democrat-approved subsidies for the rich. MSNBC - The Senate is forced to drop the $1.3 Trillion omnibus spending bill. Reason - America's waiters and cashiers are over-educated. Washington Examiner - The 'political class' and Middle America are headed in the opposite direction. Wall Street Journal - The FDA is revoking approval of a Breast Cancer drug. National Review - Public Employee Unions are "the ene...

Belarus opposition complains of dirty tricks
MINSK, Belarus — An opposition Activist depicted as a Bikini-clad gay on national TV. Leaflets telling lies about a presidential hopeful. An honors Student suddenly expelled from university after appearing in a video making fun of the president. Although the campaign for Sunday’s Presidential Election is the most free seen since authoritarian Incumbent Alexandr Lukashenko came to power in 1994, it has been tainted by vicious Propaganda and mysterious reprisals against opposition cand...

Obama: Tax bill an example for GOP
In his weekly national address, President Barack Obama said on Saturday that Senate Republicans should use the bi-partisan Compromise bill to extend the Bush-era Tax Cuts as an example and vote to ratify the START nuclear arms treaty by year’s end. “I’m heartened by our ability to come together to do what’s best for Middle Class families across this country, and our economy as a whole,” Obama said. “I’m hopeful we can also come together on another urg...

Just One More Reason Why by Colonel Bob Pappas, USMC, Retired
Just One More Reason Why by Colonel Bob Pappas, USMC, Retired House of Representatives passage of the Repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) is one more reason why throwing out Democrats and liberal RINOs was well justified in the mid-term election. Just as they rammed ObamaCare through despite opposition by the vast majority of Americans, that same group is now trying to cram Repeal of the proscription against openly practicing sodomites in the Armed Forces down the throats of A

Belarus opposition complains of dirty tricks
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — An opposition Activist depicted as a Bikini-clad gay on national TV. Leaflets telling lies about a presidential hopeful. An honors Student suddenly expelled from university after appearing in a video making fun of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. Although the election campaign has been the most free seen since Lukashenko came to power in 1994, it has been tainted by vicious Propaganda and mysterious reprisals against opposition Candidates and their suppor...

How They Learned to Start Worrying and Stop Appropriating
The omnibus spending bill died in the Senate last night, and the death was a long time coming. It started to bleed in 2006, when a series of rule changes and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act were passed, opening up the process by which bills were marked up to public scrutiny. It got a good hard kick in December 2009, when President Obama signed that year's omnibus, but only after an angry Speech declaring that the bill had to "mark an end to the old way of doing business a...

Murray No. 5 in earmarks; Cantwell is No. 50
WASHINGTON -- The Republicans scuttled the $1.2 Trillion federal spending bill late Thursday night, in part because they objected to the inclusion of some $8.3 billion worth of congressional pet projects called Earmarks. Yet it's still worth noting that Sen. Patty Murray had the fifth-highest earmark total out of 89 senators, according to an on-going analysis by Taxpayer for Common Sense. Murray had 201 earmarks totaling nearly $249 million. Washington's junior senator, Maria Cantwell, ranked ...