Conservatives Agree with President Trump: “Never Again” Should Congress Pass an Omnibus Boondoggle, and “Never Again” Should He Sign One

The 2,232-page bill was made public less than 24 hours before House members were asked to vote, in direct violation of the House’s 72-hour rule. The rule reflects a promise that Republicans made in their Pledge to America to allow at least three legislative days for Members of Congress and the public to read bills before a vote. “No more hiding legislative language,” they wrote. “Legislation should be understood by all interested parties before it is voted on.” Moreover, the House Rules Committee blocked attempts by any Members to offer amendments.

In the Senate, there was very little debate, and no amendments. Though seven budgetary points of order laid against the legislation, none of these points of order were challenged or debated. A 2,232-page, $1.3 trillion bill passed the Congress 48-hours after it was introduced with minimal debate and without Members being allowed to offer any changes.

President Trump rightly called the bill “ridiculous,” and called out Members of both chambers for the hasty, haphazard way the bill was passed. He also pledged that he would “never sign another bill like this again.”

We support the President in this regard and will insist that this promise is kept. We call upon the Congress to fulfill its constitutional role with more transparency, deliberation, and thoughtfulness. Appropriations bills should be given ample time for consideration, debate and amendments. Omnibus spending bills should be the rare exception, instead of norm.

Specifically, once an individual appropriations bill is passed by the House, the Senate should schedule time for its consideration and allow time for consideration, debate and amendments. The Senate, in particular, should prioritize the debate, amendment and passage of individual appropriations bills over wasting time in endless quorum calls.

Future funding bills should restore the spending caps signed by President Obama in 2011 to force fiscal discipline onto the government. They should fully fund the border wall, defund sanctuary cities and, at a minimum, defund Planned Parenthood and apply Hyde and conscience protections across the government, as Republicans have been promising to do for decades. Finally, the bill should not include extraneous bills that grow government, and bills that do should be subject to executive-led recession in the areas where money cannot be responsibly spent.

Republicans have long promised that, if they were given congressional majorities, they would use that mandate to affect positive change across the government. Sadly, we are seeing even worse spending, process, and policy outcomes than we saw with a Democratic president. This is untenable. We urge the Republican majority to prioritize their promises over expediency, and we call on President Trump to reject future efforts that do not meet his expectations, or the expectations of the voters who elected him.