A new federal $1.7 trillion Omnibus Appropriations Bill just dropped, and both parties are rushing to point out its massive over-spending, achievements, and shortcomings.
Representative Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) and his team sifted through the 4,000+ pages of the document, finding some of the most egregious examples of poor spending and fiscal mismanagement.
The first and most contentious item is that the bill prevents funding from going toward border security. A Twitter fact-check (now called “Birdwatch”) disputed this claim, saying that the funding is in a separate section “which includes $230mil for ‘acquisition and deployment of border security technologies’.”
However, the bill appears to prohibit funding specifically for improving “border control processing.”
At the same time, $410 million is allocated for “enhanced border security” in the countries of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, and Tunisia.
A whopping $575 million is assigned to “family planning/reproductive health” in areas where “population growth threatens bio-diversity or endangered species.”
A federal building in San Francisco, California, will be “known and designated as the ‘Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building’,” while in Georgia, Representative Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) requested $3.6 million for a “Michelle Obama Trail.”
Former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) needs $1.4 million for an electric bus charging facility.
Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, will receive $3 million for an “American LGBTQ+ Museum” and $750,000 to update the fire alarm system at the Metropolitan Opera.
Up to $200 million will be made available for the “gender equity and equality action fund,” which can also be made available to “promote democracy” and “gender programs in Pakistan.”
$335 million has been allocated for a possible influenza outbreak, which includes vaccines as well as “surveillance tools.”
The Senate.Gov site boasts other spending, more broadly speaking: $5 billion for the “Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program,” $700 million toward “combatting violence against women,” and $8 billion for the “Child Care and Development Block Grant.”
Nutritional programs will see nearly $48 billion to help provide assistance for women and children, with $47.5 billion also going to the National Institutes of Health and another $9.2 billion to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Legislators say the bill will “provide relief to American families” from cost of living and inflation, while helping “put food on the table” and “make rent and mortgage payments.”
* Article from: The Blaze
