Overspending

Press Release

The federal government spends too much. While we must continue working to get our nation's fiscal house in order, every year Congress still has to pass twelve annual appropriations bills to fund the basic operations of the federal government. This process is one of the best ways for Congress to conduct appropriate oversight of the President and executive branch. Unsurprisingly, Speaker Pelosi and Congressional Democrats are using these spending bills to implement their big government agenda while abusing the process to prevent consideration of commonsense amendments.

I am incredibly disappointed in the appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2022. Not only have Democrats proposed an 8.6% increase in discretionary spending across the federal government, but they brought their spending bills to the floor in a way that did not allow the opportunity for individual amendments to be considered. This is not the standard for these spending bills. The annual appropriations process, regardless of who controls the House, must allow members the chance to raise their priorities and have a fair opportunity to debate and vote on them. Each year, to address the concerns of Nebraskans, I support amendments to the appropriations bills. This year, I cosponsored several amendments to reinstate the Hyde Amendment, block the President's 30x30 executive order, and prevent the Biden Administration from reinstating President Obama's troubled Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule.

The Hyde Amendment is an annual amendment to appropriations bills that prohibits the use of federal funding to pay for abortions and has had strong support from both sides of the aisle for the past 45 year. Since this amendment is attached to spending bills annually and is not a permanent prohibition, it must be renewed each year as part of funding the federal government. Prior to the drafting of these spending bills, I sent a letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee asking for historical pro-life protections to be included in the appropriations bills. I also wrote to the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Related Agencies, or LHHS, with the same ask. Unfortunately, the Democrats refused to include these protections in the bills for FY 2022.

I also cosponsored an amendment to block President Biden's 30x30 executive order. The 30x30 plan is nothing short of a federal land grab. In order to add enough land to meet President Biden's goal, the federal government would have to take control of an additional area equal to twice the size of the state of Texas. To my disappointment, this amendment was not included in the appropriations package either.

The two other amendments I cosponsored were to block reinstatement of the Obama-era Waters of the United States rule. Both amendments opposed this initiative because unlike the 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule, WOTUS does not clarify state and federal government authority. Instead, it increases regulatory burdens on farmers and ranchers in the Third District. In line with their partisan agenda however, Democrats also blocked debate on these amendments.

The proceedings for FY 2022 are both unprecedented and unacceptable. Congressional Democrats should utilize the legislative process the way it was intended, to minimize excess spending and bring accountability back to Washington's budget.

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