Congresswoman Lee: FY2018 Omnibus Exemplifies GOP Dysfunction
Rejects Spending Bill That Ignores Plight of DREAMers & Funnels More Wasteful Spending to Endless Wars
Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee released the following statement on her decision to oppose the FY2018 Omnibus Deal:
“No omnibus bill is perfect – but for many reasons, this legislation falls far short. This eleventh-hour omnibus comes after months of dysfunction and multiple shutdowns. And after all these delays, Republican leadership gave Members of Congress less than 24 hours to read and analyze this $1.3 trillion, 2,232 page bill. Let me be clear: this process is designed to prevent the public from fully knowing what’s in this bill.
“Despite these tactics, tough negotiations led by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Ranking Member Nita Lowey secured important funding for key priorities and beat back some of the worst poison pill riders from Republicans targeting women’s health, workers’ rights, and clean air and water. This omnibus contains robust funding for child care and education, Minority Serving Institutions, job training, infrastructure projects, veterans’ housing and health care, and creates a new fund for computer science education grants. It ends the decades-old prohibition on CDC gun violence research. And it makes key investments in diplomacy, famine relief, global aid and public health.
“However, it is outrageous that domestic spending is lower than the 2010 funding levels, while the defense industry is receiving a massive, wasteful, and unnecessary increase in funding. This bloated spending does not strengthen our national security – it just gives more money to the Pentagon without holding the agency accountable for the documented $125 billion in taxpayer money lost to waste, fraud, and abuse. The $80 billion increase allocated for defense programs in the omnibus, including the Overseas Contingency Operations slush fund and nuclear weapons programs, represents the single largest annual increase to the defense budget since the start of President Bush’s so-called War on Terror. And while Congress continues to write blank checks for endless war around the world, we have yet to either debate or vote on these ongoing military operations.
“Additionally, I’m outraged by Congressional Republicans’ failure to help our undocumented youth. Speaker Ryan has told DREAMer kids that they should ‘rest easy’ and that he would ‘find a way to make sure that you can get right with the law.’ But, despite the bipartisan support for a clean DREAM Act, Speaker Ryan has yet to bring a bill to the Floor to protect our young people. This omnibus is yet another missed opportunity to fix this manufactured crisis and protect our undocumented youth.
“Given these glaring issues, I cannot vote for this bill in good conscience. Congressional Republicans need to stop governing from crisis to crisis and help us address the pressing challenges facing this country.”
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