Disaster Spending
Plus: A failed return to regular order, COVID-era spending scandals, and yet another city tries to shut down a local church's homeless shelter.
That didn't go well: Congressional leaders' plan to quickly pass a bipartisan spending deal to keep the federal government open through March is now in disarray, as Republicans revolt against a quick passage of the 1,547-page bill.
The deal unveiled on Monday night called for an additional $100 billion in disaster-related spending, $10 billion in agricultural subsidies, pay raises for lawmakers, and a long, long list of various other unrelated, dubious policy proposals.
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Republican fiscal hawks were the first to express frustration at the bill's spending hikes and House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R–La.) concessions to Democrats.
I had hoped to see @SpeakerJohnson grow a spine, but this bill full of pork shows he is a weak, weak man.
The debt will continue to grow. Ultimately the dollar will fail. Democrats are clueless and Big Gov Republicans are complicit.
A sad day for America.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 18, 2024
This was quickly followed by some manic posting from billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-leader Elon Musk, in which he slammed the spending plan and endorsed calls to shut down the government until President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated.
Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024
Either there is massive change or America goes bankrupt, therefore there must be massive change! https://t.co/JLDBbvt41w
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024
Finally, Trump himself weighed in. In a joint statement with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, the incoming president instructed congressional Republicans to "GET SMART and TOUGH" and pass a spending plan stripped of concessions to Democrats, paired with a prolonged raising of the debt ceiling.
A statement from President Donald J. Trump and Vice President-Elect JD Vance:
The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed.…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) December 18, 2024
Notably, Trump's criticism of the spending deal endorsed the bill's inclusion of additional disaster relief and agricultural subsidies.
Shutdown imminent? In response to the Republican outrage, Johnson donned his firefighter's helmet and attempted to rally support for the short-term spending plan, arguing that it was the best deal anyone could hope to get.
"We've got to get this done because here's the key: By doing this, we are clearing the decks, and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the America First agenda," he said on Fox and Friends, per The New York Times.
These comments seem unlikely to quell across-the-board anger from members of Johnson's own party.
Ironically enough, Johnson became Speaker of the House on the promise that he would bring regular order back to Congress and forswear rushed, backroom-assembled spending bills that no one had any time to read or any chance to amend.
It's a nice idea. As Reason's Peter Suderman wrote in The New York Times in October last year, "Because spending bills are negotiated not only out of public view but out of sight from most legislators, there is little democratic accountability to the budget process. The closed-door nature of the process leads to distrust within Congress; among the public at large, it has probably helped cement the perception that Congress is dysfunctional."
Johnson has now proven he can't deliver on that promise of a more deliberate, democratic budgeting process. His failure might well lead to a government shutdown and even the end of his speakership.
The show must go on: Speaking of rushed spending deals, Business Insider published a bombshell report yesterday about the results of a pandemic-era relief program designed to bail out musicians and entertainment venues that suffered losses as a result of COVID-19 shutdowns.
In late 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed into law a spending bill that included the $16 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program. A pet cause of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.), the program was billed as a necessary means of bailing out independent artists and venues that had been forced to close during the pandemic.
Almost immediately, it became clear that the grant program would be doling out funds to wealthy performers who, one would imagine, could weather the economic impacts of the pandemic without support from harder-pressed taxpayers.
Business Insider's subsequent reporting has discovered some truly scandalous spending that's resulted from the program. Federal grants went to pay for Lil Wayne's 2021 Coachella performance (that the rapper failed to show up for), Chris Brown's blowout parties and trips to Mexico, and other equally jaw-dropping giveaways to musicians and artists.
It's unclear if any of this spending actually violated the program's rules—which is a scandal by itself. The great reporting from Business Insider is a good reminder of why it's a good idea for Congress to a do a little thoughtful vetting of the billions in taxpayer dollars it sends out the door.
Scenes from D.C.: At D.C.'s Howard Theater last night, Reason's Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch debated The Bulwark's Tim Miller and Sarah Longwell about whether one needs to "pick a side" in politics. In another failure of democracy, the audience decided that you do in fact have to pick a side.
Somehow @nickgillespie is talking about Bob Dylan at the @reason @BulwarkOnline debate. But it's still pretty great. @SarahLongwell25 @MattWelch @Timodc pic.twitter.com/CfQnPJ9ket
— Katherine Mangu-Ward (@kmanguward) December 19, 2024
QUICK HITS
- Backpack maker Peak Design is, strangely enough, attempting to assure angry customers that it did not play a constructive role in identifying Luigi Mangione, the alleged shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Peak Design CEO Peter Dering had reached out to law enforcement after he saw surveillance footage of the alleged shooter carrying a Peak Design product.
- The U.S. Department of Justice is suing a Georgia city for trying to shut down a local church's homeless ministry. Many such cases.
- Will artificial intelligence spot the pork in the next terrible omnibus spending bill?
This will be the last year the US will have a Bill like this appropriations Bill where AI will not fully break it down and hunt for Pork and cronyism.
I have used my local AI for a few years on this stuff.
Soon you will Grok the real honesty of a Bill.
The world changes—now. pic.twitter.com/7DDDc3Njqe
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) December 18, 2024
- Is Iran's supreme leader a hopeless romantic? He's certainly posting like he is.
"A #woman is a delicate flower and not a housemaid." A woman should be treated like a flower in the home. A flower needs to be cared for. Its freshness & sweet scent should be benefited from and used to perfume the air.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) December 18, 2024
- The Wall Street Journal reports on how low-level aides kept the White House running with a less-than-with-it President Joe Biden in charge.
