[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 166 (Wednesday, December 15, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10236-S10237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday Democratic leaders unveiled 
an omnibus spending bill that some have described as one last spending 
binge for a Congress that will long be remembered for doing just that. 
The Senate should reject it.
  It appeared to some of us we were making good progress on the economy 
when lawmakers in both parties agreed Monday to let taxpayers keep more 
of their own money. But yesterday Democrats unveiled a 2,000-page 
spending bill that repeats all of the mistakes voters demanded that we 
put an end to on election day.
  Americans told Democrats last month to stop what they have been 
doing: bigger government, 2,000-page bills jammed through on Christmas 
Eve, wasteful spending. This bill is a monument to all three. It 
includes more than $1 billion to fund the Democratic health care bill. 
For those of us who have vowed to repeal it, this alone is reason to 
oppose the omnibus. It is being dropped on us with just a few days to 
go before the Christmas break, ensuring that no one in Congress has a 
chance to examine it thoroughly before the vote, and ensuring Americans 
don't have a chance to see what is in it either. This, too, is reason 
enough to oppose it.
  For 2 years Republicans have railed against the Democrats for rushing 
legislation through Congress, but this is, without a doubt, one of the 
worst abuses of the process yet.
  The voters made an unambiguous statement last month. They don't like 
the wasteful spending, they don't want the Democratic health care bill, 
and they don't want lawmakers rushing staggeringly complex, 
staggeringly expensive bills through Congress without

[[Page S10237]]

any time for people to study what is buried in the details.
  This bill is a legislative slap in the face to all the voters who 
rejected these things.
  For the first time in the modern era--for the first time in the 
modern era--Congress hasn't passed a single appropriations bill--not 
one, not one single appropriations bill. Democrats have been too 
focused on their own leftwing wish list to take care of the very basic 
work of government.
  Now, at the end of the session, they want to roll all of these bills 
together, along with anything else they haven't gotten over the past 2 
years, and rush it past the American people just the way they jammed 
the health care bill through Congress last Christmas. We all remember 
being here every single day throughout the month of December last year 
for a 2,700-page health care bill passed on Christmas Eve. This is 
eerily reminiscent of the experience last December, and I predict the 
American people have the same reaction to this bill as they did to the 
health care bill a year ago.
  A more appropriate approach is available to us. We could pass a 
sensible, short-term continuing resolution that gets us into next year 
when the new Congress will have the opportunity to make a determination 
on how best to spend the taxpayers' money. The government runs out of 
money, by the way, this Saturday. Congress should pass a short-term CR 
immediately. We need to pass this tax legislation we voted on earlier 
this week. And we should accomplish the most basic function of 
government. We can at least vote to keep the lights on around here. I 
mean, the deadline for funding the basics of government was last 
October, and here we are on December 15 proposing treaties--treaties. 
We ought to pass the tax legislation and keep the lights on. Everything 
else can wait.
  I yield the floor.

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