By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--March 23, 2018
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The good news here would be that the omnibus spending bill is terrible, and a veto would keep it from passing. The bad news is that the fix Trump wants won't make it better:
I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018
The $1.3 trillion bill is the last barge moving through Congress for a while, so Members loaded everything possible onto the legislation, from opioid funding to dollars for transportation. Some of the hoarier contents will be discovered in the days to come, though not before both chambers whoop the thing through. The House passed the measure 256-167, and the Senate will follow before leaving town at the end of the week. Congress is spending enough to keep nearly everyone but taxpayers happy. The GOP deserves credit for increasing funding for a U.S. military that is in worse shape than is commonly understood. Years of sequestration cuts and unreliable budgets have corroded equipment, training and proficiency. All of this ripples into retention problems and perhaps even death, as too many fatal training accidents continue.
A Navy F/A-18 was upside down in shallow water off Key West last week after crashing on approach to a naval air station. Both aviators died. The Pentagon declined to draw a direct connection but reiterated the need for stable appropriations, which can fund better equipment and more flying hours for pilots. Thus the GOP’s $61 billion increase over 2017 levels, the largest bump in 15 years, is more of a backfill than a Reagan-style buildup. But the Obama Administration’s military starvation—including cramping pay increases that the deal funds at 2.4%—continues to pay off for the left, which could extort the Defense weaknesses for more money elsewhere. And Democrats got their loot, including $21 billion on infrastructure.Trump's fundamental problem with the bill isn't that the GOP gave away too much to the Democrats. It's that the GOP got too little in return. That may be true, but the overriding problem facing the country is that spending is once again spiraling out of control and it's going to put us in a fiscal crisis sooner than people realize. Structurally, this is the result of the Senate filibuster that Mitch McConnell and his troops refuse to even consider getting rid of. That makes it impossible for a Republican majority to pass real spending restraints. Then again, with this particular majority, there may not be the will to do it anyway. If Trump was threatening a veto because we need to have real spending cuts, this tweet might be something to get excited about. But he's not, so it's not.
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Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain
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