The U.S. Senate approved a $1.7 trillion spending bill on Thursday in a 68-29 vote, with 18 Republicans joining Democrats in pushing the omnibus through — including Texas’ John Cornyn and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Legislators revealed the text of the 4,155-page omnibus bill Tuesday morning. The bill has been criticized by Senate conservatives in addition to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
“This bill before us is legislative barbarism,” said Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), one of the most vocal opponents of the spending bill. “This is an act of extortion being leveraged on the United States Senate right before Christmas.”
“This bill, in all 4,155 pages of its glory — or infamy — was negotiated in secret by four or five members of Congress,” Lee said. “They wrote it utterly in secret with the design of making an artificial emergency, threatening a shutdown right before Christmas.”
Conservative critics point to “political projects” included in the omnibus, such as $3.6 million in federal taxpayer money for a Michelle Obama Trail in Georgia and $3 million for the American LGBTQ+ Museum in New York City.
However, a federal government shutdown was avoided as McConnell worked with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to push the omnibus through the Senate.
“The bipartisan government funding bill before this body is imperfect but strong. It will make huge new investments in our Armed Forces while cutting non-defense, non-veterans baseline spending in real dollars,” McConnell said.
“The world’s greatest military will get the funding increase that it needs, outpacing inflation … This is a debate about American security, American servicemembers, and American interests on the world stage.”
Schumer added, “The bill is so important to get done because it will be good for families, for veterans, our national security, even for the health of our democratic institutions.
The spending bill includes $858 billion in military spending, $45 billion more than was requested by President Biden and an increase from the $782 billion seen last year. It also contains an additional $44.9 billion earmarked for aid to Ukraine and NATO allies, as well as $40.6 billion for natural disasters, including hurricanes or drought.