On Thursday, I voted no as the House of Representatives passed FY2018 Omnibus – the spending bill for the remaining 6 months of this fiscal year.
I ran for Congress pledging to get our fiscal house in order. Based on the current spending trajectory, our national debt, currently at $21 trillion, will increase by another $30 trillion in the next decade. Borrowing gobs of money to spend today, is effectively a tax on our children and grandchildren tomorrow.
I have voted multiple times to increase the Department of Defense’s budget and provide funding for the pay-raises our troops have long deserved. I am thrilled that Obamacare bailouts are not included in this funding bill. I support investing in infrastructure, funding border security and mental health programs included within the 21st Century Cures Act.
I do not accept the standard Washington presumption that nothing in the budget can be cut in order to fund these priorities without increasing the deficit. The additional spending busts domestic spending caps and turns it back on the Budget Control Act passed in 2011, which successfully reduced spending by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Hardworking taxpayers make tough spending decisions to stay within their budget and expect their representatives will do the same when funding our massive federal government. Voting for this $1.3 trillion bill would have been voting to do the opposite of what I pledged to my constituents and the American people.
Furthermore, the process by which this 2,232-page bill was developed was inherently flawed. It was negotiated in the dark with only a handful of members, without a transparent conference committee and released less than 24 hours before the final vote was cast. Thereby, making it impossible for members to know what they were voting to fund.
I will continue to advocate for spending restraint and fiscal responsibility in Washington.
Congressman Daniel Webster represents The Villages in the U.S. House of Representatives.
