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Over the objection of fiscal conservatives, a pork-laden spending bill appears to have been temporarily blocked as “Republican” leaders in Washington, D.C. scramble to draft a stripped-down proposal ahead of a Friday (December 20, 2024) deadline.
After Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – two key players in the incoming administration of Donald Trump – blasted the 1,547-page boondoggle, House speaker Mike Johnson appeared to go back to the drawing board.
“The more I learn, the more obvious it becomes that this spending bill is a crime,” Musk wrote on X earlier this week.
“It’s full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways and pork barrel politics,” Ramaswamy added. “If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they should VOTE NO.”
Several lawmakers – including South Carolina’s own Nancy Mace – had already indicated their intention to do just that.
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The last CR we did was 21 pages. This once is 1,547.
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) December 18, 2024
Let that sink in. More pages, more taxpayer dollars flushed down the drain. pic.twitter.com/AxiBmQPlpS
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Mace is no stranger to holding the line on fiscal issues, one of the few GOP lawmakers who has consistently opposed the bipartisan orgy of big government in our nation’s capital.
On Thursday morning (December 19, 2024), Mace argued a partial government shutdown ahead of Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025 would actually be a good thing.
“For decades, Democrats AND Republicans have engaged in massive reckless spending,” Mace wrote. “This cycle of fiscal abuse must come to an end. If we learned nothing else from the November 5th election, we learned the American people don’t want business as usual in Washington. They want strong leaders who will stand up and say enough is enough.”
“We need a complete and total reset,” Mace continued. “A 30-day government shutdown is a good place to start. We can pick this back up after Trump is sworn into office.”
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Trump and vice president-elect JD Vance also blasted the original spending bill, which would “give congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas.”
“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025,” Trump and Vance said. “The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country. Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF.”
Trump and Johnson were negotiating a stripped-down version of the bill on Thursday morning.
Count on FITSNews to provide updates in the event an agreement is reached…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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9 comments
They could cut $2 trillion by letting the first Trump top 1% tax cuts sunset. Problem solved.
Isn’t Nancy getting tired of wearing that fake arm brace? Let it go, girl.
How much could they save if they held the 3 years and done of EBT? Strip the budget down to necessities, no money for foreign countries, no pay raises, hiring freeze, cut where cuts need to be made with useless positions. We’re broke and spending money like drunken sailors. Does Jim Clyburn need a driver? If he can’t drive himself or pay for an Uber he needs to step down.
Perhaps it’s best that Ol”Enos have a driver…
Eliminating poverty assistance would save the country about 115 billion a year. I guess it is ok to let poor children starve so that we can save a 50-billion-dollar tax cut to Elon. But he deserves it, right? A man who came to this country and worked as an illegal immigrant; and has now benefited heavily from hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies and loans.
But if the poor must starve so the rich can have more best they be about it, and decrease the surplus population. You and the Colonel are truly wonderful Christians, Ebenezer.
Tom, there was a time when people would do anything to feed their family. That included working more than one job if necessary. Now they just stand around with their hands out expecting someone to do for them. Go to the grocery store and look at what these “poor people” are buying… 90% of it is junk food… except for the random pack of crab legs and skrimps. Remember when the government used to hand out staples… cheese, rice, beans, flour, etc… why did that stop? There was a time when Food Stamps couldn’t be used for prepared food, which included heat and serve meals. This country is broke… you have to cut back everywhere.
On the bright side, those poor kids who are recipients of Families Helping Families will receive another new bike again this year. When I was growing up I had two new bikes… one I got for my birthday, the second one I bought from mowing lawns. If only I could have begged and asked someone to buy me a new one every year.
How about we cut off every dime to foreign nations until we get our country straightened out. Why send billions to Ukraine when billions need to be sent to North Carolina and Tennessee to rebuild our infrastructure. How many roads need to be rebuilt around the country, how many bridges. The FAA is using 60 year old technology to control our airspace. Let’s forget about our veterans, we have to put illegals in this country ahead of them in line. Let’s put them in hotels the veterans were trained to live outside.
Shut it down until Sleepy Joe is out of office!
Let the Democrats know that they’ve failed the US citizens on historic levels. Emergency budgets should be limited to 15 pages.
Where is that POS Sleepy Joe? Busy throwing away more tax payers money. I also personally think Nancy should get rid of that brace. Shove it up Sleppy Joes ass and bounce him out of the White House like a pogo stick!
You balance the budget and lower the deficit in one of two ways, or a combination of the two. You decrease expenditures or you increase revenue. We hear a lot about decreasing wasteful expenditures from Republicans, which is fine and good. But why don’t we hear an equal outcry from them about raising taxes on the rich. Hint, as long as Elon Musk and his fellow wealthy Americans who helped bankroll Trump’s re-election have his ear, you won’t. Not beginning in 2o17, not now.