The Ugliest Omnibus Bill Ever - WSJ
By: The Editorial Board (WSJ)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The 117th Congress has been the most spendthrift in history, and this week it plans to go out with one final bipartisan back-slapping hurrah—a 4,155-page omnibus spending bill that is the worst in history. This is no way to govern in a democracy, but here we are.
The Members, in their efforts to disguise what they’re doing, rolled out the final product late Monday night. They plan to whip it through by Thursday while Americans are busy with pre-Christmas plans and before even the Members know what they’re voting on.
Democrats failed in their duty to pass normal spending bills, so they are using this omnibus to finance all of government with $1.65 trillion for fiscal 2023. But wait, it’s worse. Congress is also adding major policy changes many of which deserve separate votes or couldn’t pass by themselves—from healthcare to presidential election rules to regulation of the beauty industry (see nearby).
A bill this large—1,500 pages more than last year’s omnibus—can’t be all bad, and this contains a few bright spots. One is $858 billion for defense, a 9.7% increase. That’s $45 billion more than President Biden sought, and it will backfill dwindling weapons stocks, give military members a 4.6% pay raise, and help stabilize the naval fleet, among other urgent needs.
There’s $45 billion in new military and economic aid for Ukraine in its desperate fight against Vladimir Putin ’s attempt to conquer more of Europe. There are also new incentives for retirement savings, including an increase to 75 in the age holders must begin to withdraw funds. So much for most of the good news.
Republicans claim they’ve broken the longtime Democratic demand for defense-non-defense spending “parity,” but that’s not clear. The GOP says non-defense discretionary is $787 billion, a 7.9% increase, which is on top of the $4.6 trillion Congress has already spent over two years.
But House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro says the number is $800 billion, a 9.3% increase and “the highest level for non-defense funding ever.” If Ms. DeLauro is taking credit, the money is in there somewhere. Perhaps she’s including $40 billion in “supplemental” disaster relief for states hit by hurricanes, droughts and wildfires, much of which will exceed the amount of damage.
Republicans are boasting about a symbolic $275 million cut to the IRS’s annual budget—but that’s a drop in the $80 billion gusher bestowed on the agency in August. The overall discretionary pot holds as much as $16 billion in earmarks—including $656 million in parting gifts for retiring Senate Appropriations Vice Chairman Richard Shelby.
Past omnibuses included discreet policy riders, though don’t confuse those with the major legislation in this bill. This omnibus bans TikTok on government devices, which is warranted given the security risks from the Chinese-owned app but which was added at the last minute with no debate.
Congress is jamming through major changes in public-land management; a plan to phase out large-scale driftnet fishing; new oversight on horse-racing; a restructure of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; changes to help Boeing meet aircraft-certification deadlines; and alterations to lobster regulation. That’s before lawmakers shoe-horned in sweeping healthcare changes on everything from Medicaid eligibility to the Children’s Health Insurance Program to Medicare provider payments.
At least Republicans blocked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s cannabis-financing bill and an expansion of the child tax credit. But Congress also failed on the one bipartisan provision that might help the economy next year: a reinstatement of full deduction for business research and development expenses.
The political process here is as bad as most of the policy. Major changes in law deserve their own debate and vote. Instead, a handful of powerful legislators wrote this vast bill in a backroom. Members can use the need to fund the government as an excuse to say they supported, or opposed, specific provisions as future politics demands.
This didn’t have to be. Congress could pass a short-term funding bill and kick this mess to next year when the GOP House would have more leverage. A few Republicans are suggesting they may try to delay a Senate vote, and please do. For trying to stick the country with this omnibus, Congress should miss Christmas.
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