U.S. Senator Rand Paul (KY) opposed the 2000 plus-page budget rushed through Congress
WASHINGTON DC – President Donald Trump signed a $1.5 Trillion Omnibus spending bill Friday after threatening to veto it earlier. Seven Illinois Democrats crossed the aisle to join six Republican House members to send the controversial budget to the U.S. Senate. Both Democrats Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth supported sending the measure onto the President.
Here's what the conservative Washington DC think tank Heritage Foundation said about it:
This latest massive omnibus spending bill represents everything that is wrong with Washington. Any semblance of the regular order budget process has been ignored in favor of funding by crisis, as Congress has again failed to perform one of its most important functions: oversight. Rather than being cut, reformed, or eliminated, programs that are wasteful, inefficient, or inappropriate will receive tens of billions of dollars in additional funding. Congress should reject this bill and start over with the goal of achieving meaningful reforms through an open, transparent, and accountable budget process. America’s taxpayers deserve better than another bloated spending bill that pushes much-needed reforms further down the road.
The budget once again funds Planned Parenthood with $500 Million – an item that is stirring consternation back home among Republican voters.
Congressman Randy Hultgren (IL-14) explained his reasons for supporting the bill despite the Planned Parenthood item.
"I have fought long and hard against taxpayer funding for the country's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, and I voted for the earlier House version of the omnibus bill which defunded Planned Parenthood and all abortion providers," Hultgren said in a statement to Illinois Review.
"Unfortunately, the Senate objected to this language. I was encouraged that this final omnibus package contains all existing pro-life provisions, including the Hyde and Helms Amendments which explicitly prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars for abortion in federal grants–like those used by Planned Parenthood–and it prevents efforts to roll back the administration’s expanded Mexico City policy. I am a proud cosponsor of H.R. 217, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which prevents federal tax dollars from going to organizations that perform abortions, including Planned Parenthood, and I urge its passage into law."
Republican Congressman Peter Roskam's (IL-6) office explained similarly.
"This bill wasn’t a perfect bill, but it had some good and necessary things in it… And, as you know, Congressman Roskam has a very strong and proven pro-life record," spokesperson Veronica Vera wrote in a statement.
"Regarding this specifically, the omnibus maintains long-standing pro-life riders such as the Hyde, Helms and Dornan (DC Hyde) amendments, among others. Additionally, in Division H (Labor, HHS), the Title X and Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) programs remain funded at FY17 levels ($286 million and $101 million respectively)."
Only one Illinois Republican Congressman – Darin LaHood (IL-18) – opposed the bill. He was joined in opposition by strange bedfellows: Democrats Bobby Rush, Luis Gutierrez, Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky.
AYES:
- Bost
- Bustos
- Davis, Rodney
- Foster
- Hultgren
- Lipinski
- Kristnamoorthi
- Kinzinger
- Kelly
- Schneider
- Quigley
- Roskam
- Shimkus
NAYS:
- Rush
- Gutierrez
- Davis, Danny
- Schakowsky
- LaHood
Republican Democrat
