OPINION:
President-elect Donald Trump derailed the congressional attempt to pass another oversize omnibus government funding measure before adjourning for the Christmas break.
“We should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want,” he wrote in a statement Wednesday with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.
The message was delivered after a 1,500-page federal spending free-for-all found its way onto the docket, stirring controversy among fans of limited government. A continuing resolution must pass before midnight Friday lest nonessential federal functions temporarily cease and North Carolina disaster victims face delays in receiving government aid.
Only a few pages are needed to make a bill that keeps the government open through March, but legislative blackmailers know they can get away with attaching bad ideas that would never survive on their own merit to a “must pass” measure.
Some of the omnibus provisions were harmless. For instance, Section 1201 updated the role of the new assistant secretary of commerce for travel and tourism to ensure he works to “identify locations and events in the United States that are important to music tourism and facilitate and promote domestic travel and tourism to those locations and events.”
More absurdly, Section 101 renamed “offenders” in the law as “justice-involved individuals” so as not to offend the sensibilities of criminals.
More worrying was Section 301, which would have kept the Global Engagement Center open through Dec. 23, 2025. The center is a rogue office within the State Department that, according to a House Small Business Committee investigation, “circumvented its strict international mandate by funding, developing, then promoting tech start-ups and other small businesses in the disinformation detection space to private sector entities with domestic censorship capabilities.”
Naturally, that censorship capability was directed against conservatives.
Section 605 would have prevented third-party internet service providers from claiming they “own” the data that passes over their infrastructure if the data originated in the office of a House member. This convoluted provision targets the legal contrivance G-men use to conduct warrantless surveillance operations.
The FBI and other domestic spy agencies routinely go to Verizon or Comcast and asking them to “voluntarily” turn over whatever information they have on their customers, and those customers are never informed about this intrusion on their privacy.
Under the proposal, no “law or rule of civil or criminal procedure” would have imposed a gag order preventing the private company from “notifying the House office of any legal process seeking disclosure of House data.”
This is fine policy, except the third-party data loophole should be abolished for all Americans, not just for 435 politicians. If law enforcement agencies want to spy on any U.S. citizen, they ought to get a warrant, because that’s what the Constitution says they should do.
This omnibus fiasco teaches a few lessons about the new political reality going into 2025. The congressional faction that insisted on ousting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy painted the California Republican as the cause of runaway spending. They were wrong.
The GOP conference doesn’t stick together on important votes like Democrats do. This gives big spenders the leverage they need to get what they want in negotiations with a speaker who can afford to lose only four votes.
It didn’t work this time because the Nov. 5 election results proved Americans are tired of the games in Washington. Legislative blackmail is no longer a viable strategy.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.