Washington, D.C. – Congressman Ted S. Yoho (R-FL) released the following statement following his vote against the Consolidated Appropriations Act – H.R. 244.
“Yet again, congress is faced with a colossal ‘must pass’ omnibus spending bill to keep the government running for the remainder of fiscal year 2017. While I am in full support of raising pay for our military men and women, our national defense, our veterans, and funding for NIH – to name a few – this is not a bill I could support. There is more bad than good in this one trillion dollar spending bill. It continues to funnel billions of dollars to unauthorized programs, allows taxpayer funds for Planned Parenthood, and it does nothing to address our out of control debt.
“People don’t seem to care or realize that our out of control national debt, will eventually consume every single dollar in the budget. Yet we still appropriate funds at the last minute and bring up these ridiculously large spending bills. At what point are we going to prioritize dealing with our twenty trillion dollar national debt?
“There is no reason both the House and Senate couldn’t finish each of the eleven remaining appropriations bills individually and avoid cramming them all together in the dead of night. Each bill should be thoroughly vetted and debated on the floor. Omnibus spending bills do nothing but open up the appropriations process to frivolous spending. It is a shame that congress continues to spend people’s hardworking tax dollars in the way it does. The American people deserve better from their government.”
