While most Americans were busy preparing for holidays with family and friends, the retiring leaders of the Senate and House spent their final days before Christmas wrangling through Congress the $1.7 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. With the clock ticking on a government shutdown, the Democratic Party majorities in each chamber used the holidays and looming threat of paralysis to ramrod through a pork-laden and ideologically driven spending package in a last-minute process that undermined normal congressional budget procedures.
More commonly known as the Omnibus spending package, this monstrosity reminds us that we are in a war for the very soul of America. If that statement seems hyperbolic, consider a few of the most egregious items in the Act:
Defense Spending
The Act approved $858 billion in defense spending, an increase of 14.4 percent from last year. This is more than 3.5 times China what spends, and in fact an amount greater than the next ten countries combined. The United States spends over 40 percent of the world’s total defense spending, yet somehow can’t manage to recruit enough able-bodied new soldiers or keep those it has adequately trained or motivated. Instead, U.S. military personnel are being indoctrinated with leftist ideology and gender insanity, substantially undermining our nation’s warfaring capabilities.At the same time, tens of billions of dollars are wasted each year on horribly inefficient procurement processes, not to mention aircraft carriers that don’t work and planes that don’t fly. If you were seeking one culprit to blame for America’s mushrooming national debt with the attendant risk of eventually bankrupting itself, not to mention deep-seated congressional and bureaucratic corruption, you need look no further.
Support for Ukraine
While we can’t seem to allocate sufficient funding to secure our own southern border and protect American workers and communities from the pernicious effects of mass illegal immigration, the U.S. Congress has approved an additional $45 billion in support for Ukraine, of which $34 billion is defense-related. Keep in mind that this is on top of the $48 billion that the United States had already committed through November, well more that the EU and member nations combined. May God bless the Ukrainian people and all that they’ve suffered over the past year, but what about the American people? Surely this nearly $100 billion could have been better spent on supporting American working and middle-class families by curtailing mass illegal immigration, strengthening our domestic energy industry, and making productive investments in technology, infrastructure, education, and training.Let Germany, France, Poland, and the more than capable other nations of Western Europe sort out Ukraine. It’s in their strategic backyard, not ours.
Funding the Progressive Agenda
Buried within the Act are provisions for hundreds of millions of dollars for a variety of programs targeted at “confronting the climate crisis,” over $400 million for border security in Jordan and other Middle East nations, at least $575 million for “family planning/reproductive health, including in areas where population growth threatens biodiversity or endangered species,” apparently prioritizing population control of our own species in a nation whose birth rate is now well below replacement rate.It doesn’t end there. The Omnibus spending package changes election procedures ostensibly designed to “prevent another January 6,” whatever that means, and earmarks several millions of dollars for a variety of LGBT support programs. These include funding for “Pride Centers,” museums, housing, transgender immigrants, and similar initiatives. Nothing can be found that supports generative heterosexual marriages or parents trying to bear and raise children in an environment increasingly hostile toward these and other traditional institutions that make this country great and sustain civilization itself.
The list could go on and on, but suffice it to say, our congressional process has been highjacked by the radical Left. Putting aside the ideological differences, these items have no business in our government’s budget. This is all the more true at a time when as a country we are grossly indebted, have run trillion-dollar deficits each year for over two decades, and continue to face ongoing inflation from out-of-control monetary expansion.
How Much Longer Must We Tolerate This?
Americans should be rightly incensed by what has gone on here. We are bankrupting our nation and its citizens in pursuit of an imperialistic war machine, an unattainable Green Utopia, and an incoherent and insane sexual and gender ideological agenda. While little can be done to undo what has already passed both the House and Senate, and will soon be signed into law by President Joe Biden, Americans must hold their elected officials accountable. This includes making sure these representatives hear from their constituents and get voted out in 2024.The Epoch Times Copyright © 2022 The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. The Epoch Times holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.
