Editors at National Review Online cheered the demise of a plan to ramp up federal spending at the end of the calendar year.
Speaker Mike Johnson, to the surprise of many on the Hill, unveiled a 1,547-page continuing resolution loaded up with many unrelated and costly provisions.
It included $100 billion in disaster aid, purportedly for hurricane recovery, but likely far in excess of any actual need months after the hurricanes have passed. It would also waive some of the limitations on disaster aid based on income and proof of need, making fraud easier.
It wouldn’t be a true Republican spending bill if it didn’t include giveaways for farmers. It had $30 billion in aid for farmers, who are bracing for the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs on their export markets, and a one-year extension of the farm bill. It would also allow gasoline with 15 percent ethanol to be sold year-round in every state. The ethanol folks always get paid. …
… This everyone-gets-pork spending bill at year’s end is the sort of thing Johnson had promised not to do as speaker. He insists that the bill is not a Christmas tree, but it’s hard to see why that isn’t a fair description for a must-pass spending bill in the second half of December ornamented with just about every spare piece of legislation sitting around the Capitol. …
… Government shutdowns have proven to be ineffective ways to reform spending, but deals crafted around the debt limit have in the past proven helpful. A debt limit hike should not be included in any current deal. …
… If Trump and Elon Musk want things to look different in the future, they should prioritize a complete reworking of the congressional budget process by rewriting the laws that govern it. The 1974 budget act that currently governs the process has never worked, and Congress has never actually passed an entire budget on time according to its rules.
