Congressman Andy Harris' vote on the Omnibus bill

I would like to share some thoughts regarding the passage of the Omnibus bill which has created real heartburn for conservatives.

As you probably know, the Senate under Harry Reid has not passed a single appropriation bill this year, out of the 12 that need to be passed to fund the government. In contrast, the House passed 7 of the 12 through the full House, with an unrestricted amendment process, and passed an additional 4 appropriation bills through the committee. The house stopped passing any more appropriations bills over the summer when it became clear that Harry Reid was obstructing the process to force a showdown this fall.

A new appropriation season begins in February - where we can expect the Republican controlled House and Senate to resume the normal budget process of 12 separate bills, allowing for amendments. This canresult in hundreds of time consuming amendments on each bill. It has been argued that re-visiting the entire budget next February for the current fiscal year under a short-term CR, would greatly set back the budget process for the coming year fiscal.

The message below from the Andy Harris Facebook Page addresses his decision to vote for the Omnibus bill. Of particular interest are the riders he lists, which have been largely ignored by the press. It helps to put into perspective the decision that he made.

Ellen Sauerbrey

Andy's Message

"A lot of misinformation has been spreading about what a vote on the bill to fund the federal government nicknamed the “Cromnibus,” actually meant. Here are the facts. If no funding bill had passed and the government had shut down, the President’s immigration executive order would have proceeded because it is funded through fees, not discretionary spending. (My edit: It would require passage of specific legislation to disallow the fees from being used for this purpose, which would have been killed in the Senate.) A short term continuing resolution (CR) would have still allowed for the executive immigration action to go forward. I supported an amendment brought to the Rules Committee by Congressman Mulvaney that would have banned the President’s immigration action altogether, but that amendment was rejected by the Rules Committee.

I supported a bill earlier this year that would have stopped the President’s illegal immigration executive orders, but the Senate has prevented us from holding President Obama accountable all year. By funding all of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security only through February, Congress is in a better position to deal with the issue when the new Senate Majority is sworn in January 6th.

The “Cromnibus” bill, though far from perfect, was about putting Congress in the best position possible to take on the President’s unconstitutional actions, and advancing conservative principles on a wide range of issues. Our choice was to pass a continuing resolution, which maintains government spending just as it is now with no restrictions on the Administration, and without eliminating outdated government programs – or to pass an omnibus appropriations bill that includes many riders and spending levels that advanced conservative principles such as the following:
• Three new pro-life provisions
• Stopping DC from legalizing recreational marijuana use, while allowing medical marijuana use
• Returning discretionary spending to pre-Speaker Pelosi levels.
• Reducing funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by $345 million. President Obama had asked for a 1.5B increase for the IRS to implement Obamacare, so we really gave him 1.8billion less than what he wanted.
• Banning the IRS from targeting those individuals and organizations who are simply seeking to exercise their freedom of speech.
• Cutting funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by $60 million. The 21 percent reduction in EPA funding since FY2010 means the agency will be forced to reduce its staff size to 1989 levels.
• Prohibiting funds from being used to transfer detainees from the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
• Prohibiting the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from implementing regulations that would allow union organizing rules to circumvent the rights of workers.
• Providing no new funding for ObamaCare, and cutting $10 million from the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) – an unelected board of 15 bureaucrats given authority to address rising health care costs by denying care to seniors.
• Preventing taxpayer bailouts of insurance companies through Obamacare's risk corridor program.
• Providing needed oversight of ObamaCare’s tax subsidies by directing the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Treasury to report back on any waste, fraud or abuse.
• Restricting the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) from implementing regulations harmful to the livestock and poultry industry - something important to our poultry industry on the Shore.
• Restricting the EPA from applying the Clean Water Act to certain agricultural areas like farm ponds and irrigation ditches"