Taxpayers Are Hoping They Don't Get Thrown Under the Omnibus

With the Congress in a short Lame Duck recess (slated to return next week) and the government running out of funding on December 11^th, it is nearing the point where there will be some type of legislation needed to keep the government open for the remainder of the year and into 2015. The real question right now is what type of stopgap funding measure will there be from Congress to make sure the government remains open for business after the latest Continuing Resolution (passed in September) expires. Will it be another CR? Or will there be a massive omnibus spending bill headed to the President’s desk? If it is the latter, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) will be concerned and taxpayers should be too with the possibility of earmarks being inserted into the bill. Though earmarks were banned, lawmakers have found a way around the process and they continue to be a problem.

Right now the tide appears to be with the Omnibus, and there are reports out that show there’s not even interest in a short-term Continuing Resolution. John T. Bennett of Defense News said this much last week in an article Thursday:

Capitol Hill’s top appropriators have yet to discuss another short-term measure to keep the government running, focusing solely on a longer-term bill they hope to drop in early December.

Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., and Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, respectively, are cobbling together an omnibus spending bill that would fund the Pentagon and other federal agencies through Sept. 30…

As leaders look for a way to avoid a government shutdown, which they believe would damage the party, Rogers and Mikulski are in talks to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year, congressional sources say.

The fact that Congress will return with 10 working days left before government funding runs out and a CR hasn’t even been discussed by key members is very telling, and it is why TPA believes taxpayers should be worried.

While another short-term funding measure is no way to govern, a massive spending bill that will likely be visible only for a day or two before being voted on is less desirable. The opportunity and temptation for elected officials to load the bill with wasteful and needless spending that will cost taxpayers billions. Earlier this year TPA found $7 billion in earmarks alone (click here) in the Defense Appropriations Bill that was part of H.R. 3547, the 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act, aka the Omnibus appropriations bill. Taxpayers have no reason to believe that another omnibus will bring anything different.

It is no surprise that one of the key Senators in leadership who has been on the record supporting lifting the ban on earmarks is pushing for an omnibus and opposing a CR. Niels Lesniewski of Roll Call reported on Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and his support for an omnibus:

Appropriators appear to be making good progress on behind-the-scenes negotiations on a big omnibus bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.

That’s the word from Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate who also happens to wield the gavel of the Appropriations subcommittee on Defense…

Durbin warned against using another continuing resolution to keep the government operating past Dec. 11.

Last April, TPA criticized Sen. Durbin, who serves as Majority Whip, after he called for the full reinstatement of the earmark process in the halls of Congress. His desire to officially bring back the practice of inserting pet projects into bills in order to make it easier for members to vote in favor of legislation seems to fit very well with his support for an Omnibus.

In a twist of fate, President Obama’s immigration announcement last week may mean that taxpayers don’t get thrown under the omnibus.  According to the Defense News on November 21^st:

That so-called immigration poison could lead Republicans to revolt, forcing House leaders to scrap an omnibus spending bill that would fund the Pentagon and other federal agencies through Sept. 30 in favor of a CR that would span a few months.

“This could move us in the direction of a CR [continuing resolution], I think,” Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told CongressWatch a few hours before Obama spoke.

“I would like an omnibus, but not at any price,” Shelby said. “I think it changes a lot of things. We’ll have to see. It could poison the water and drive us toward a CR.”

Though nobody will know for sure what legislation will be brought to the floor until early December, it is important to make sure that Congress is moving in the direction of spending less taxpayer money and reducing the potential for earmarks to a be part of any spending bill that will be put together. The chances of an omnibus are seemingly increasing, which means the chances of earmarks will be going up too. TPA will be looking closely and will expose any unnecessary and wasteful spending that may be part of a new Omnibus.