It didn’t take long — it’s been hidden quietly for a few weeks now. But it has now been exposed: Omnibus Pork.
Facts
On March 24, 2018, I published a letter I sent privately to President Trump expressing my belief that his signing the Omnibus Bill (legally named “The 2018 Omnibus Appropriations Act“) without drastic changes would probably insure his presidency would be just one term. Hundreds responded to me in social media and privately in disagreement, some in anger, some in shock that I would say something so sinister and foreboding to the President, and some simply encouraged me to not be discouraged.
Please know that I am NOT Chicken Little crying “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” But I am a realist. Any President who makes campaign promises — especially those regarding money — and does not follow those promises with actions to fulfill them is almost always doomed. Remember Bush 41? “Read my lips….no more taxes.” He broke that promise and signed tax increases into existence. In doing so he did NOT get a second term and gave Bill Clinton the White House. Americans have good memories when it comes to their dollars.
This Omnibus bill was a stark departure from Trump’s campaign promises. The reasons for his signing the bill were primarily to enable increased military spending. His military advisers apparently convinced him this bill was his only option to get that military funding that had been lacking for so long. He caved.
Now the details of who, what, how, and why from the Omnibus Bill are in the public domain for all of us to digest. No one tells the truth about government waste, pork tax dollar allocation for special interests, and Congressional spending hypocrisy better than Steve Hilton. He did so Sunday night April 8, 2018 on his show “The Next Revolution.” Before we go any further, here’s a 6 minute clip in which Hilton details the astounding pork and waste in the Omnibus bill. And HE EXPOSES POLITICAL CORRUPTION THAT RIDDLES THE LAW! All need to take 6 minutes and watch this so we can have a meaningful conversation about going forward:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5766765551001/
My Takeaway
I seldom say, “I told you so.” But, “I told you so!”
To say President Trump got taken out to the woodshed on this one would be an understatement. In fact, he may be still outside recovering from a Democrat Party/Establishment GOP group old fashioned whooping. They all together perpetrated an unexpected “Gotcha'” on the President — AND on the American people. Thoughts:
Regular Order Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) has continuously cried for the Senate to go back to “Regular Order” for consideration of all spending legislation. “Regular Order” is a common sense method of handling proposed legislation, and it’s simple. Each proposed bill covers single and specific pieces of legislation. They are written, presented first to applicable committees whose members discuss, negotiate, amend, and then vote a final version to be included in a final bill comprised of ALL other appropriations created by this same process that are part of ONE SPENDING BILL. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, this omnibus shortcuts Regular Order and crams ALL appropriations matters into one bill. The individual pieces of that bill were NOT considered in committee, were NOT discussed or amended from negotiations, but were put into one bill that was presented to the full Senate for a simple up or down vote: NO DISCUSSIONS OR AMENDMENTS ALLOWED! And the Senate passed the bill as did the House.
It is pretty easy to see great possibilities of graft, corruption, tax revenue waste, pork projects, and quid pro quo political paybacks in this type of appropriations methodology. Watch Hilton’s expose again and calculate just how much money has been “stolen” from Americans through federal taxes to fuel this scam. The Alaska “Bridge to Nowhere” is nothing compared to this Omnibus bill.
Summary
What will fix this? Can it even be fixed?
Certainly President Trump since signing this into law has been hammered from pretty much all conservatives for doing so. He has openly been looking for ways to minimize the economic damage of this law so that he might take action to reverse some of the pending damage. Unfortunately for him and American taxpayers, very little can be done at this point. Congress certainly will NOT pass any serious changes to specific parts of this law. What incentive for them is there to do so?
The only way to make serious changes is NOT to this one bill, but to the PROCESS of lawmaking.
Florida Governor Rick Scott announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate in the Fall, which will pit him against longtime Democrat Senator Bill Nelson. The day after Scott’s announcement, he began revealing one at a time his campaign ideas and pledges. His first addresses the substantive issue we are dealing with today: how and why this “Omnibus” environment is allowed. “We shouldn’t be sending the same type of people to Washington,” Scott said in a sweaty warehouse, surrounded by wooden pallets and supporters fanning themselves with his campaign signs. “This concept of career politicians has got to stop.”
The simple concept Scott references is “term limits.” Let’s be honest: almost every state has term limits for governor, for state legislators, as do most cities regarding their mayors. Congressional term limit discussions are continual in almost every segment of American life. But those discussions have never resulted in meaningful consideration at the only place such discussions really matter: Congress. Why is that? No one on Capitol Hill wants their job to ever end!
Ever hear of ANYONE leaving the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate as a pauper? Ever hear of any Congressman or Senator leaving office not substantially better off than when they entered office in their first term? The only honest and believable answer to either question is “No.” Serving in Congress has morphed into the cushiest and most sought after white collar position in the United States: very little actual work, GREAT pay, amazingly liberal expense and office accounts — not to mention travel reimbursement — and lifetime health benefits and retirement income far above that of those who hold similar civilian positions. Add to that the ability to pad one’s net worth through legal but somewhat shady financial boondoggles setup by Congressional members for the benefit of extended family members, and what you have is a treasure trove of financial benefits fully funded by: TAXPAYERS.
Folks, the financial management of your tax dollars by these 535 elected Congressional officials is horrendous — if it even IS managed! They primarily serve for power which then opens the door for everything they desire. Money? Not a problem. With power they through Congressional actions and benefits have pretty much all the money they will ever need.
You know what’s most amazing of all in this? It took a Brit — Steve Hilton — to tell Americans exactly how corrupt this Omnibus really is. “Watchdog American Media?” They’re pretty much all in the tank for Big Government which requires Big Spending.
