Budget

This week the House of Representatives passed a bill which raised the debt limit and provided short-term funding for the government until December 3. The party-line vote now heads to the Senate without a bipartisan agreement in place to ensure passage. Meanwhile, Democrats in Washington are using arbitrary deadlines to ram through President Biden's spending agenda.

Not long ago, I wrote about the unacceptable spending levels set by Democrats in appropriations bills, which annually fund the federal government. Now, just a few weeks later, the Democrats are moving forward with additional spending plans for fiscal year 2022 and beyond. The primary goal for Speaker Pelosi and President Biden is to enact a massive $3.5 trillion wish-list on top of the current federal spending.

Since President Biden took office inflation has increased every single month. At a time when our nation is trying to rebuild and recover in response to COVID-19, the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats don't seem to mind that the price of everyday goods and services are on the rise while Nebraskan's paychecks are worth less. These things do not just happen. Inflation reaching a thirteen-year high is a direct result of poor leadership by Democrats, and the ripple effect is only going to get worse.

The federal government spends too much. While we must continue working to get our nation's fiscal house in order, every year Congress still has to pass twelve annual appropriations bills to fund the basic operations of the federal government. This process is one of the best ways for Congress to conduct appropriate oversight of the President and executive branch. Unsurprisingly, Speaker Pelosi and Congressional Democrats are using these spending bills to implement their big government agenda while abusing the process to prevent consideration of commonsense amendments.

Earlier this year, President Biden pushed his $1.9 trillion spending package, the American Rescue Plan, through Congress and signed it into law claiming it was a dire necessity because of the pandemic. However, his administration has been very slow in rolling out programs created by this massive bill despite saying it was so urgently required. Instead, they have been busy proposing more "emergency" spending, before money allocated in the previous bill has even been spent and while our economy has begun bouncing back, largely on its own.

Budget reconciliation is a longstanding tool intended to provide an expedited track for making changes to federal law relating to long-term budgeting. The primary purpose of reconciliation is to allow budget-related policies to pass through the Senate with a simple majority, without the need to reach a 60-vote majority to end debate. It has been used regularly under majorities in both parties to change tax policy, enact spending cuts, and to implement policies like welfare reform.