(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Ted Budd said taxpayers’ $1.2 trillion spending bill passing into law early Saturday was fought over two principles, both involving the ongoing problems at the southern border.
“If an illegal alien harms a police officer, they should get deported,” the North Carolina Republican wrote on social media. “If an illegal alien commits the crime of theft or shoplifting, they get detained. Democrats would rather shut down the government than do the right thing.”
President Joe Biden signed the second government funding measure into law before the sun rose. The Senate approved 74-24 a 1,012-page spending plan that was released about 48 hours earlier (that’s 21 pages an hour with no sleep, if reading it all).
North Carolina’s 16 representatives in Congress cast just three votes against the bill – Budd and Republican U.S. Reps. Dr. Greg Murphy and Dan Bishop.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., voted for it, as did other fellow Republican House members Virginia Foxx, David Rouzer, Richard Hudson, Patrick McHenry and Chuck Edwards. Democrats were united, with Reps. Don Davis, Deborah Ross, Valerie Foushee, Kathy Manning, Alma Adams, Wiley Nickel and Jeff Jackson in favor.
Two things were notable. Many senators said out loud that House members’ immediately leaving town after their vote for the two-week Easter vacation left them no choice but to pass what was in front of them with no amendments, such as Budd’s Laken Riley Act. Any amendments needing return to the House would have started the shutdown.
And, Bishop and Jackson – among five congressional North Carolinians leaving the Beltway – are opponents for state attorney general on Nov. 5.
House passage on Friday was 286-134.
In the Senate, Democrats were 47 yea, one nay; Republicans 25 yea, 22 nay; independents two yea, one nay. Two Republicans didn’t vote.
In the House, Democrats were 185 yea, 22 nay; Republicans 101 yea, 112 nay. Six Democrats and six Republicans didn’t vote.
The spending package is central to federal operations involving defense; financial services and general government; homeland security; labor, health, human services, education and some other related agencies; the Legislative Branch; and state and foreign operations, and some programs related to them.
The first part of the nation’s funding through Sept. 30 was signed into law March 9. Total spending for the budget year that ends Sept. 30 is about $1.66 trillion, a figure that is sometimes called discretionary and does not include Social Security and Medicare among other programs.
Republicans voting for the measure were mostly quiet through channels such as official news releases and social media. Democrats seized the opportunity.
In saying why he was against it, Bishop said, “This bill affirms and funds Biden’s open border invasion. At this very moment, Biden is allowing illegal immigrants to pour across our border and is using your tax dollars to sow disorder and chaos in our communities. The bill is chock-full of earmarks that fund the radical left’s cultural indoctrination crusade against our children and families.”
Added Murphy, “It lacks meaningful provisions to secure our open border, end DEI initiatives corrosive to our military, and cut federal funding for the woke social agenda Democrats are pushing on our institutions. Washington badly needs bipartisanship and less division, but I must draw a line in the sand. I voted against the bill.”
DEI is the acronym helped by mainstream media standing for diversity, equity and inclusion. Most critics cite an irony, saying it has exclusionary practices.
Ross said it should not have taken so long to reach this point and lamented the cyclic government shutdown threats.
Davis said, “As we continue negotiations for a supplemental defense funding package, I will continue fighting for solutions that address our most pressing national security challenges, including securing our border and the urgent security assistance for Israel, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific.”
Manning said protection of women’s freedoms and “rejecting other extreme culture-war provisions, which have no place in appropriations legislation” was achieved.
“Once again,” Foushee said, “House Democrats have been successful in rejecting extreme House Republican policies from these funding bills that aimed to slash efforts to fight climate change, attempted to limit reproductive rights nationwide, and threatened our national security. These bipartisan 2024 funding bills will help fight inflation, keep our communities safe, and keep our country moving forward.”
