EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) Some senators representing the Tri-State return to our area just hours after yesterday’s vote on the continuing resolution, which keeps the U.S. government funded.
The senate approved the resolution late last night, but some area senators are frustrated over the process.
The resolution passed by a 69 to 28 vote in the senate after it was narrowly approved in the house. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, and Indiana Senator Todd Young, voted for it.
“My concern is we’ve never added so much debt in such a short period of time in our history that we could get historic levels of inflation,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky. He, along with Indiana Senator Mike Braun, voted against the funding resolution. Sen. Paul says he is concerned with adding more to the federal deficit;
“My main complaint about our level of funding for government is that it incurs a deficit of about $1 trillion a year, and that’s before we do the add-ons that have been added on this year. So, I think the deficit will be $3 to $4 trillion this year,” he said.
President Biden signed the continuing resolution today, which keeps the government funded through mid-February, and avoids a government shutdown. Both Senators Durbin and Paul say lawmakers need to avoid continuing resolutions and omnibus bills and go back to the appropriations process.
“It’s been a long time since we went through the regular order of things. We usually wait until the end, put all our work in one bill, call it an omnibus, and take it or leave it. That’s no way to run a government,” said Sen. Durbin.
“Really, it’s a failure of both parties,” Sen. Paul added. “When we were in charge, it was the same kind of problem. You go all the way to the deadline and so we go this bill yesterday afternoon, and they said, ‘Take it or leave it’.”
Sen. Durbin says the process needs to change soon to avoid another omnibus bill or resolution. Sen. Paul’s supported past bills that would reduce federal funding by 1% for each department for at least 90 days if lawmakers didn’t approve a budget, but it’s never become law.
(This story was originally published on December 3, 2021)