House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) told Breitbart News Daily host Amanda House on Tuesday that the “Senate Democrats seem to be calling most of the shots” on the omnibus spending battle.
Multiple lawmakers suggested this week that the House will vote on the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill on Thursday. Congress needs to pass the spending bill before midnight Friday to avoid a government shutdown.
House first asked Meadows why House Republican leadership has yet to release the bill text days before Congress has to vote on it.
Meadows argued that the “Senate Democrats seem to be calling most of the shots.”
Meadows told Breitbart News Daily, “It’s the typical thing that happens in Washington, DC. You see, you got so many deadlines, and then, honestly, we wouldn’t run our businesses back home or run your household back home this way, but it seems like everything lurches from deadline to deadline.”
He continued, “We did have a meeting yesterday, Amanda. Basically, we tried to outline some of the things that are in the omnibus for conservatives. I don’t know that this will be a good week because this week, there will be a number of add-ons in the spending bill that will be troubling with not just the amount of money we’re spending, but also the riders that many of us fight for, because conservative causes are not getting any attention because the Senate Democrats seem to be calling most of the shots.”
The North Carolina congressman asked, “Why are we not defunding Planned Parenthood? Why are we not getting significant funding for the wall? Why do we continue to fund sanctuary cities? A lot of these questions continue to be left unanswered. Certainly, it’s not just Democrats that need to answer these questions, but Republicans as well.”
Reports suggest that congressional leaders will not include an Obamacare bailout. Meadows told House that although the bailout proposal is not currently in the bill, some Republicans and Democrats continue to fight to get the bailout in the legislation.
Meadows said, “We’ve been fighting to keep it out, as you mentioned, and it does not appear that it will be in there. Candidly, they’re still negotiating with Democrats and, honestly, as well as our side to put it in. It does not appear it will be in the spending package.”
Chairman Meadows added, “We need to lower premiums; there’s no doubt about it. We need to make sure pre-existing conditions are taken care of, but propping up Obamacare, a failing system, is not the way to do it. It’s interesting that one of the proposals that’s out there currently is to add $30 billion — that’s $30 billion with a B — for reinsurance to bail out insurance companies. They say it’s all about making sure there are high-risk pools, but the original way Obamacare was designed, there was $22 billion for reinsurance, and it went to zero two-years ago.”
Meadows declared that many politicians campaign as fighters of limited government; however, they often fight for liberal causes when arriving at Capitol Hill.
The House Freedom Caucus chairman argued, “Sometimes you will find that people will campaign one way and then act another way once they get here to office. Some people like to campaign like a conservative and legislate like a progressive.”
Meadows declared, “I think it’s time that we tell nine Democrats in the Senate that they don’t control Washington, DC.”
House then asked Meadows if he supports the Senate getting rid of the Senate filibuster to pass President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
Meadows replied, “I do, even though Leader McConnell says it’s the tradition of the Senate that we need to uphold. I can tell you all of the people back home in my district could [not] care less about the traditions of the Senate; they care about getting things done.”
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Eastern.
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