Rep. Justin Amash Calls Out House Republicans for Passing 'Massively Wasteful' $675 Billion Defense Bill
Amash was one of just three House Republicans to vote against the spending bill.
Rep. Justin Amash (R–Mich.), one of just three House Republicans to vote against a Department of Defense appropriations bill on Thursday, called out his party for overwhelmingly supporting the wasteful legislation.
The $675 billion spending bill easily passed in the House of Representatives by a 359–49 vote. Aside from Amash, Reps. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) and Ken Buck (R–Colo.) were the only Republicans to vote no.
Despite the fact that Republicans—who do indulge in small government rhetoric from time to time—control both houses of Congress and the presidency, government spending has only gone up, Amash noted in a Twitter post on Friday. This will always happen, he said, when "all of government" is controlled by one political party.
"Whenever one party controls all of government, spending goes up like crazy. This Congress is no exception," Amash wrote. "Yesterday, I was one of only three House Republicans to oppose the massively wasteful DoD appropriations bill—one of the most bloated bills ever."
Whenever one party controls all of government, spending goes up like crazy. This Congress is no exception. Yesterday, I was one of only three House Republicans to oppose the massively wasteful DoD appropriations bill—one of the most bloated bills ever. https://t.co/KcGWk1mmif
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 29, 2018
Ever since he became a member of Congress in 2011, Amash has made it clear he won't stand for wasteful government spending. In March, after his congressional colleagues passed a 2,300-page omnibus bill, he called the legislation "one of the worst—and most costly—pieces of legislation ever to become law."
"That's why I voted no," Amash tweeted at the time.
Amash has never shied away from criticizing both Republicans and Democrats for not being fiscally responsible. "There is such a level of stupidity right now in the way we spend money," he said in April.
