It was exactly one day ago when an almost $1.7 trillion bipartisan bill received massive support from the Senate this week, much to the dismay of economic analysts who remain baffled by the unnecessary spending.
One could argue it was somewhat essential, though. It was pushed a bit more violently due to several government agencies being under threat of a shutdown this weekend; the bill would secure funding for them.
Economic crisis who?
Both Democratic and Republican Senate members agreed on the bill that would fund the federal government and its agencies through the end of the current fiscal year, up until September 30th, with almost $1.5 trillion funded from the previous one.
I’m in favor of a small spending bill to keep things running, but common sense suggests that it be the least amount required through the holidays.
Railroading through a giant spending bill that almost no one has read is unlikely to be in the best interests of the people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022
The vote wasn’t as smooth as major media tried to sell the story, though.
More than a dozen Republican senators were looking for a chance to offer an amendment, with only a handful claiming they were in opposition, but wouldn’t try to prevent the bill’s passage.
Senator Mike Lee spoke up against the emergency measures, claiming he was only on board with them, due to his not being willing to go over the shutdown deadline.
A similar sentiment was shared by Republican Senator Mike Brown, who argued budgeting is about to take a sharp turn in the upcoming year once Republicans retake the House, with reforms right around the corner.
I brought along the 1.7 trillion, 4,000+ page Pelosi-Schumer omnibus spending bill that's being fast-tracked through the Senate. This process stinks. It's an abomination. It's a no good rotten way to run government. We're standing up and saying NO. pic.twitter.com/Wom6xKEeQh
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 20, 2022
Joe probably won’t be reading the bill
However, the bill included a bit more than just a spending plan.
It’s been found that it included some quality-of-life changes in government agencies, imposing a ban on the usage of the TikTok app on all government devices.
Additionally, Congress’ role in vouching for the validity of the election process has been revised as well, which is yet another attempt at sanctioning the January 6th, 2021 protests.
Despite all the pushback it received, the bill managed to squeeze through the Senate. The leaders are currently planning on passing the almost 4.2k page bill to Joe for the signing; although not many of us expect him to actually go over it in detail.
A vote for the Pelosi-Schumer spending bill is a vote to raise inflation. Period.
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) December 20, 2022
Unfortunately, no one is mentioning the fact we’re living through a historical event at the moment, seeing as the US is going through what can only be described as the worst economic crisis of the current century.
Additional government spending is the last thing we needed in the middle of supply chain shortages and energy prices soaring through the roof. Of course, the $1.6 trillion that was agreed upon is bound to come back and bite us in the a** one day.
Budgeting experts believe that the bill is far too big and too late for comfort, arguing that a lower amount would actually help combat the growing inflation in the country.
