Revolt: Republicans Angry About Omnibus Spending Bill Decry 'Total Mess'
Published December 14, 2010
| FoxNews.com
Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C, and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., are leading the charge against a Democratic-sponsored omnibus spending bill to fund government through the rest of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Republicans poring over a 1,924-page overarching spending bill proposed by Democrats to cover the rest of the fiscal year are threatening to grind the legislation to a halt, citing massive earmark spending, which, if passed, would be enacted into law without debate in the full Senate.
Two sources who spoke to Fox News are describing the legislation as "a total mess."
But the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said he believes the legislation must pass.
"The twelve bills included in this package fulfill the Congress' most basic responsibility, to exercise the power of the purse," he said in a statement. "This measure reflects a year's worth of work by members of both parties. Together, we have closely scrutinized the president's budget request, held hundreds of hearings, thousands of meetings, and asked literally tens of thousands of questions to each and every federal department and agency seeking justification for how taxpayer dollars are being spent."
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, responded in a statement, saying that after neglecting to pass a budget, "today we learn Senate Democrats now want to sandwich them together, totaling almost 2,000 pages, and jam them through in the waning moments of this lame duck session before anyone can read them. This political end-around reveals just how quickly my colleagues across the aisle have already forgotten the voters' message in November."
FULL STORY:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/14/revolt-republicans-angry-omnibus-budget-decry-total-mess/#ixzz18863B2L4
