The Great Spending Betrayal

Over Friday and Saturday, 61% of House Republicans and 34% of Senate Republicans voted for the omnibus megabus bill.  In doing so, not only did they violate their pledge pertaining to bundled (1200-page) bills and the 72-hour layover rule and agree to fund Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, Planned Parenthood, the EPA, the PLO and the UN; they actually agreed to spend almost $9 billion more than last year.  Overall, budget authority will be $33 billion higher than the House budget, while appropriations for non-defense spending will be $45 billion more.  One of the members who voted in the affirmative even agreed that he had voted for a “crap sandwich."

Throughout the process, GOP leaders and appropriators swore incessantly that the spending measure would not breach the $1.043 trillion cap and would cut $6.7 billion from last year’s budget authority.  Well, they have lied.

In a cynical subterfuge that has become all too common in Washington, House leaders placed the offsets for the additional $8.6 billion of emergency spending in a separate bill.  This allowed members who voted for the omnibus to go on record as saying that they voted to offset the extraneous spending, thereby keeping their pledge to spend less than the previous year.  It also enabled Senate Democrats to pass the underlying omnibus bill, along with the emergency spending, but easily vote down the offsets in the third bill.  And that is exactly what they did today.

Thanks for being pawns in this insidious inside-the-beltway game.  What a way to end of a year that began with so much potential.

Below the fold is a list of Republicans who supported the omnibus.  With the presidential election largely narroewed down to a few unideal choices, we need to ramp up Tea Party 2.0 for the 2012 congressional elections.

Oh, and by the way, Senator Ron Johnson voted no; Senator Roy Blunt voted yes.

Senate Republicans

Alexander, L. (TN)
Blunt (MO)
Boozman (AR)
Brown, Scott (MA)
Chambliss (GA)
Cochran (MS)
Collins, S. (ME)
Graham, L. (SC)
Heller (NV)
Hoeven (ND)
Hutchison, K. (TX)
Isakson (GA)
Johanns (NE)
Murkowski, L. (AK)
Roberts (KS)
Wicker (MS)

House Republicans

Aderholt, R. (AL-04)
Alexander, R. (LA-05)
Bachus, S. (AL-06)
Barletta (PA-11)
Barton, J. (TX-06)
Bass, C. (NH-02)
Benishek (MI-01)
Biggert (IL-13)
Bilbray, B. (CA-50)
Bilirakis, G. (FL-09)
Black, D. (TN-06)
Blackburn, M. (TN-07)
Bonner (AL-01)
Bono Mack, M. (CA-45)
Brady, K. (TX-08)
Buchanan (FL-13)
Burgess (TX-26)
Calvert (CA-44)
Camp, D. (MI-04)
Canseco (TX-23)
Cantor (VA-07)
Capito (WV-02)
Carter (TX-31)
Cole (OK-04)
Conaway (TX-11)
Crawford (AR-01)
Crenshaw (FL-04)
Culberson (TX-07)
Denham (CA-19)
Dent (PA-15)
Diaz-Balart (FL-21)
Dold (IL-10)
Dreier (CA-26)
Duffy (WI-07)
Ellmers (NC-02)
Emerson, J. (MO-08)
Farenthold (TX-27)
Fincher (TN-08)
Fitzpatrick (PA-08)
Fleischmann (TN-03)
Flores (TX-17)
Forbes (VA-04)
Foxx (NC-05)
Frelinghuysen (NJ-11)
Gallegly (CA-24)
Gerlach (PA-06)
Gibbs, B. (OH-18)
Gibson, C. (NY-20)
Gosar (AZ-01)
Granger (TX-12)
Graves, S. (MO-06)
Griffin (AR-02)
Grimm (NY-13)
Hall, R. (TX-04)
Hanna (NY-24)
Harper (MS-03)
Hartzler (MO-04)
Hastings, D. (WA-04)
Hayworth (NY-19)
Heck (NV-03)
Hensarling (TX-05)
Herrera Beutler (WA-03)
Hunter (CA-52)
Issa (CA-49)
Jenkins (KS-02)
Johnson, S. (TX-03)
Johnson, Timothy (IL-15)
Kelly (PA-03)
King, P. (NY-03)
Kingston, J. (GA-01)
Kline, J. (MN-02)
Lance (NJ-07)
Lankford (OK-05)
Latham (IA-04)
LaTourette (OH-14)
Latta (OH-05)
Lewis, Jerry (CA-41)
LoBiondo (NJ-02)
Long (MO-07)
Lucas, F. (OK-03)
Luetkemeyer (MO-09)
Lungren (CA-03)
Marino (PA-10)
McCarthy, K. (CA-22)
McCaul (TX-10)
McKeon (CA-25)
McKinley (WV-01)
McMorris Rodgers (WA-05)
Meehan (PA-07)
Mica (FL-07)
Miller, C. (MI-10)
Miller, J. (FL-01)
Myrick (NC-09)
Nugent (FL-05)
Nunes (CA-21)
Olson (TX-22)
Palazzo (MS-04)
Paulsen (MN-03)
Pearce (NM-02)
Pitts (PA-16)
Platts (PA-19)
Pompeo (KS-04)
Price, T. (GA-06)
Rehberg (MT-AL)
Reichert (WA-08)
Renacci (OH-16)
Rigell (VA-02)
Roby (AL-02)
Roe (TN-01)
Rogers, H. (KY-05)
Rogers, Mike (MI-08)
Rogers, Mike D. (AL-03)
Rohrabacher (CA-46)
Rokita (IN-04)
Rooney (FL-16)
Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18)
Roskam (IL-06)
Runyan (NJ-03)
Ryan, P. (WI-01)
Scalise (LA-01)
Schock (IL-18)
Scott, A. (GA-08)
Sessions, P. (TX-32)
Shimkus (IL-19)
Shuster, Bill (PA-09)
Simpson, M. (ID-02)
Smith, Adrian (NE-03)
Smith, C. (NJ-04)
Smith, Lamar (TX-21)
Stivers (OH-15)
Sullivan (OK-01)
Thompson, G. (PA-05)
Thornberry (TX-13)
Tiberi (OH-12)
Turner, B. (NY-09)
Upton (MI-06)
Walden, G. (OR-02)
Webster (FL-08)
West, A. (FL-22)
Whitfield (KY-01)
Wolf (VA-10)
Womack (AR-03)
Woodall (GA-07)
Yoder (KS-03)
Young, C.W. (FL-10)
Young, D. (AK-AL)
Young, T. (IN-09)