“NO” on $1.1 Trillion Year-End Omnibus Spending Bill

Published by Dan Holler of Heritage Action on December 16, 2015

On Friday, the House will vote on the year-end omnibus spending bill, formally known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016.  The bill should have been an opportunity for conservatives to reassert their prerogatives on a host of important issues, ranging from appropriate spending levels to substantive action on refugee resettlement, executive amnesty, Planned Parenthood, and many more.  Last year, one Republican leader explained a Republican-controlled appropriations process would “have a lot of restrictions on the activities of the bureaucracy” and that this would be “something [Obama] he won’t like, but that will be done.”  Unfortunately, the omnibus spending bill falls far short of achieving substantive policy victories on the issues Americans care about.

Notably, the bill fails to achieve any significant victories on some of the key national security issues facing our nation, including refugee resettlement.  Less than one month ago, a veto-proof House majority passed a bill that would have set up a more stringent vetting system for Syrian refugees.  Many conservatives considered it to be merely a first step because it would have relied solely on President Obama’s appointees to carry out the new vetting process.  Indeed, some GOP leaders acknowledged the bill was “just a first step” and others suggested it would “likely” be addressed in the omnibus.  It was apparently neither. To be clear, tweaks to the Visa Waiver Program are just “feel good” measures that will do absolutely nothing to mitigate the serious national security risks posed by Obama administration’s current resettlement plans.

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Source: Dan Holler, heritageaction.com