Crumbled Omnibus Bill Is A Mess Of Speaker Johnson's Making
M.D. Kittle
Speaker Mike Johnson is getting some well-deserved coal in his stocking from conservatives livid with the Louisiana Republican’s attempt to play Santa with a Christmas list stopgap spending bill.
The massive house-of-cards measure Johnson countenanced collapsed Wednesday amid scathing criticism from conservatives and an incoming president who urged Republicans to get “SMART and Tough” with Democrats.
‘Rich People’Johnson loathes the descriptor, but the proposed resolution the speaker has presided over is nothing more than a bloated omnibus bill packed with pork, censorship, and sweetheart deals for Congress. Turning from his reported intentions to deliver a clean “continuing resolution” to keep the bloated federal government fully open for another few months, the simple spending plan has grown to a bloated 1,500-plus pages.
On Wednesday, the scam proposal included a possible pay hike for congressional members and a provision allowing senators and representatives to opt out of Obamacare for better taxpayer-funded insurance.
Rank-and-file lawmakers currently earn $174,000 annually, with higher pay for those in leadership posts. House members earlier this year blocked a proposed pay raise despite complaints from some.
“I live in the Washington, D.C., area. It’s an expensive area in which to live,” Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said in June. “This is a serious issue as to whether or not the only people who can serve here are rich people.”
With plenty of perks, federal lawmakers are faring much better than most Americans, critics assert. The proposed pay jump would potentially give lawmakers a 3.8 percent raise, or about $6,600 a year, pushing gross pay to $180,600 in 2025.
The congressional benefits package would give members a pass from the awful Obamacare health insurance the First Branch of government has stuck millions of Americans with. It also would allow the lawmakers to enroll in the Cadillac plans of the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program.
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https://thefederalist.com/2024/12/19/the-crumbled-omnibus-carcass-is-a-mess-of-speaker-johnsons-own-making/
