Rand Paul Calls Omnibus Spending Bill Process an ‘Abomination’ — American People ‘Don’t Want This’

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AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib
Joshua Klein

The “American people don’t want” the 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill, and the process of its release was an “abomination,” according to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who called for amendments to prevent similar measures in the future. 

Speaking at a news conference with Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) at the U.S. Capitol, the Kentucky Senator spoke out as the Senate advanced the $1.7 trillion, 4,155-page omnibus spending bill.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted on a motion to proceed on the House message on H.R. 2617, the legislative vehicle for the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which passed 70-25, featuring strong support for the bill, and with many Senate Republicans against it.

Standing next to the text of the massive omnibus spending bill, Paul noted that it was produced “in the dead of the night — 1:30 in the morning [is] when it was released.”

He then turned to those who “argue that it’s conservatives’ fault if you don’t have the Christmas spirit” and that “somehow you’re holding up government”:  

“Well, whose job is it to produce this?” he asked. “The people in charge of spending. The people in charge of both of the parties.”

Those people, Paul charged, knew it would be necessary by September 30 because “it’s in the law,” yet continued to delay its release.

“You got nine months, almost ten months, to produce a plan — to have a spending plan,” he said. “They weren’t ready on September 30, so they voted themselves 90 more days. They weren’t ready last week either, so they voted themselves another week.”  

“And now we have it at 1:30 in the morning this morning,” he added. 

He then continued to slam the pressure to hastily approve the measure.

“But what’s the clamor? The clamor’s to vote,” he said as he mocked those who would push to “vote now, let’s get it done — why are you standing in the way of spending?”

Paul posed what he deemed the “real” question that should be asked.

“The real question is… what is more dangerous to the country?” he asked.

“Which is more important? Which threatens the country more?” he continued. “Are we at risk for being invaded by a foreign power if we don’t put $45 billion into the military? Or are we more at risk by adding to a $31 trillion debt?”

Describing the nation’s debt as “the greatest risk to our national security,” Paul called out the “rotten” process as one that “stinks.” 

“It’s an abomination. It’s a no good rotten way to run your government,” he said, adding that with only 24 hours provided to “process” the $6 trillion entity, “they want to go forward.”  

As a result, Paul vowed that he would demand two amendments. 

“One, that this goes against the budget rules,” he said, noting that the pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) restriction on spending explicitly forbids it. 

“You can’t have all this new spending unless it’s offset,” he asserted.

In addition, Paul stated he would be “demanding that the PAYGO rules are increased.”

“Instead of taking 60 votes to evade the rules, we’re going to ask that it be a two-thirds vote to evade the rules,” he said.

He concluded by arguing that Americans “don’t want this” and are “sick and tired of it.” 

“They are paying for it through the nose with inflation,” he said. “Adding a trillion dollars to the deficit will simply fuel the fires that are consuming our wages and consuming our retirement plans.” 

“It’s a terrible system,” he concluded. “Someone needs to stand up. We’re standing up and we’re going to say no.”

In a subsequent tweet, Paul said the process is a “no good rotten way to run government.” 

Many Republicans have spoken out against the recently released bipartisan funding bill, citing the $1.7 trillion price tag as well as its number of pages.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) warned that “no Republican should cave into this political warfare,” while Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said, “Don’t tell me you ‘defend democracy’ if you support one bill once a year that funds everything, written behind closed doors by a few insiders, with insufficient time to read before voting.”

Congress has until Friday to pass the measure in order to avoid a government shutdown.

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein

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