In 2022, U.S. House Republicans won a majority of the popular vote on a platform that included cutting wasteful spending. Nonetheless, Senate Republican leadership has conspired with Democrats to pass a wasteful $1.65 trillion spending package before the GOP takes control of the House in January. Treacherous legislation like this omnibus does have one upside: We see legislators’ true colors. And Congressman Dan Bishop (R., N.C.) has proven himself to be America’s taxpayer advocate.
In a viral Twitter thread, Bishop reveals some of the most egregious provisions of the 4,155-page omnibus. We learn that the Senate uniparty wants to spend $200 million of taxpayer money for the Gender Equity Fund, $108 million for the EPA’s “environmental justice” initiatives, $65 million to restore Pacific salmon populations, $26 million for the U.S. House’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, millions for various socially progressive pet projects and the “Nancy Pelosi Fellowship Program,” and much, much more:
By unpacking the omnibus plank by plank, expenditure by expenditure, Bishop and his office are doing yeomen’s work for the American people. The congressman has had to move quickly: The Senate uniparty released the eight-ream-long bill at 1:30 AM on Tuesday and expects it to become law by the end of the day Friday.
I have known Bishop since I was sixteen and he was a state senator for Charlotte. A citizen legislator in the mold of the Founding Fathers, he spent almost thirty years in private legal practice before entering the halls of Congress. That gives Bishop an appreciation for taxpayers’ rights that is often lost on career politicians who have never had a real job.
The hastily introduced omnibus rewrites Medicaid rules and the Electoral Count Act, in addition to spending $858 billion on defense and $773 billion on social programs. Those outlays will fund the government through September 2023. Sadly, 21 GOP senators took a totally opposite approach to Bishop, advanced the bill, and demonstrated their disregard for government transparency and the plight of American taxpayers:
I will never understand Republicans who ignored The Wall Street Journal editorial board’s sage counsel: “[P]ass a short-term funding bill and kick this mess to next year when the GOP House would have more leverage.” But, on a happier note, I will never forget the dutiful service of America’s taxpayer advocate—Congressman Dan Bishop—this Christmas season.
* The views expressed in this article solely represent the views of the author, not the views of the Chicago Thinker.
