House to Vote On Trillion Dollar Spending Bill Thursday. No One Has Read It
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a government appropriations bill on Thursday evening and with a day until the vote, lawmakers still have not received the text of the legislation.
“Pelosi and the Democrats promised a full 72 hours to review legislation,” a senior conservative congressional aide told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “But now we’re voting on a massive, probably thousands-page long conference report tomorrow and we haven’t even seen text the day before? This is worse than under Speaker Ryan.”
The bicameral and bipartisan Homeland Security funding conference committee signaled last week that they are nearing a final border security deal that could be voted on prior to the Feb. 15 funding deadline. However, after hitting a snag over Democrats’ demand to limit to how many criminals Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be allowed to detain, Congress reportedly reached an “agreement in principle” late Monday.
The agreement includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new bollard fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border, far short of the $5.7 billion that President Donald Trump initially sought for 234 miles of steel or concrete walls.
Regardless, the legislation is expected to be finalized late on Wednesday giving members of Congress less than 24 hours to read what they are voting on.
“When one bemoans the swamp, look no further than spending a trillion dollars and jamming through legislation when none of us have even seen it,” Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy told TheDCNF. “We should be a no on such incompetence even if it weren’t perpetuating drunken spending and failing to actually secure the border.”
Republican Maryland Rep. Andy Harris also confirmed to TheDCNF that lawmakers have not received a copy of the legislation as of Wednesday afternoon.
“No one has seen the final wording of a long and complicated bill we will be expected to vote on tomorrow evening,” Harris said. “That’s no way to run a legislature.”
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