If you’re reading this on Wednesday, Merry Christmas. If it’s Thursday or later, hope your holidays were the merriest, the happiest, the non-Grinchiest ever.
The omnibus spending bill ginned up in the U.S. House recently has been scrapped, and rightly so, since more than just funding government for a spell, there were billions of dollars of “holiday cheer” packed into it, as well as a whopping $69,300 pay raise for congresscritters.
(For those playing at home, that amount of pay increase is more than a majority of people who pay the taxes that fund these people make in a year.)
There also were numerous fund earmarks ensconced in the 1,500-page monstrosity, for both Republicans and Democrats alike, that essentially shows the voters of this country that they were right in looking for a change, but were wrong thinking it was going to be simple.
But just when you thought it was all about the pork, there were a few other little surprises jammed into the bill, things that most legislators didn’t even know were in there (as with most important legislation that comes out of Washington, House members weren’t given much time to read the 1,500 pages, you know, the old gotta-pass-it-to-see-what’s-in-it gambit).
Both were designed to benefit the government while putting the people — you know, those folks that government is supposed to be for — behind the 8 ball. Again.
For instance, a program euphemistically called TAKE IT DOWN, is essentially censorship wrapped up in a laughable attempt to protect people from deepfake images — putting faces of other people on computer-generated bodies in computer-generated places. This program was in place but was due to end in January. The “spending” bill would have given this law two more years of life.
Then there was the little gift Congress attempted to give itself by allowing lawmakers to opt out of Obamacare. Since the “Affordable” Care Act was passed, a codicil in the law required all members of the government to participate. Apparently, they found they hated it as much as us, and wanted to carve out an exemption for themselves.
There was $110 billion to help natural disaster victims, but also money to rebuild the Baltimore Bridge, $10 billion in aid to farmers and even transferred control of RFK Stadium to the District of Columbia.
So, in the waning rule of President Biden, and with the looming return of Trump and the DOGE twins looking to take a hatchet to the whole of D.C., the entrenched moneygrubbers looked to sneak in some pork under the wire.
When Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy weighed in, apparently the members of the House remembered their spines and scrapped this mess.
Still, it’s a further example that it will be a long, hard slog for change to come to the government. Maybe then we all can make New Year’s resolutions to keep our “leaders” from backsliding into their own pockets.
Tony Farkas is editor of the San Jacinto News-Times and the Trinity County News-Standard. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.