Obamnibus: I Don't Like it, But I'll Sign It

With all this talk of the Omnibus Package lately, you might be wondering just what the heck that means.  The Oxford Dictionary defines omnibus as a noun or adjective. It can mean a volume of novels previously published separately, or it can describe something comprised of several items.

Understanding Appropriations

Part of Congress’s job is to create the annual funding bills that keep our government running.  The bills are called appropriation bills.  Wrangling over appropriation bills caused substantial delays and most of the appropriation bills from the previous year were never approved.  Since that time, the government has been running on a “continuing resolution” until the appropriations could be passed. To catch up, the nine outstanding bills were bundled into the “omnibus” spending package, with plenty of pork thrown in for good measure.

For expedience sake, an omnibus bill can be necessary at times, but it causes over spending that further threatens an already expanding deficit.  Because the omnibus package is not subject to the usual oversight process, there is little to no scrutiny over the spending.  A few congressional representatives made some weak attempts to cut back the bill’s wasteful spending, but no progress was made and the bill passed.

Obama Signs with Reservations

According to President Obama, the earmarks in the package represent only 1% of the total spending.  With a $410 billion package, that comes to only 4 billion of wasteful spending, going to pet projects and lobbyist organizations.  Should we be glad we are getting such a bargain?  Obama signed the bill with reservations indicating that the bill was necessary to continue our government’s functioning, but future earmarks will require greater scrutiny.  While it is reassuring that the President disapproves of this excessive spending and resolves to prevent it from reoccurring, only future spending bills will prove if he has the strength to enforce this resolution.