This past week and more than five months into the fiscal year, the House and Senate passed a 2,730 page, massive $1.5 trillion dollar spending package to fund the government for 2022.  I voted against this crap-sandwich and let me explain why.

For one reason, the pork-ridden legislation was written behind closed doors and delivered to Congress for consideration at 1:30 AM in the morning.   Remember your mom telling you that nothing good happens after midnight?  She was right.

Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace—at 1,225 pages.

This spending bill was 2,730 pages of nonsense, legalese and bureaucratic double speak.  At least Tolstoy told a story.  

That’s right, in the dead of the night and hoping Americans would not notice or give a damn, politicians in Washington, D.C. thought it best to give members of congress less than a day to read a bill that would increase spending by 7%! 

You can read my entire statement here but let me just highlight some of most egregious aspects. 

First, let’s stop playing games and just be honest with the American people and admit that literally not one single member of congress read through the entirety of this enormous legislation before voting for it.  There were no hearings, no markups and no robust debates.  There were no amendments allowed.  This was exceptionally poor process and Americans deserve better. 

And how is this omnibus being paid for? By financing it with more deficit spending, the way Washington always pays for its runaway spending.

It also includes over $4 billion in earmarks chosen by Democrats.  Here are a few examples that will make your blood boil:

• $4.2 million for sheep experimentation station infrastructure – I’m not making this up.  Apparently, this is what Democrats now call infrastructure.
• $2 million to reduce inequity in access to solar power – because now the sun is racist, I suppose the argument will go.
• $1.9 million to study climate change at George Mason University.
• $775,000 for an LGBT center in Los Angeles.
• $2.5 million for a planetarium in Vermont -  I guess so Bernie Sanders can star gaze.
• Senator Chuck Schumer made out particularly well.  $250 million of your tax dollars will be funneled to 154 of Schumer’s pet projects in NY.
• $10 million went to demolish a private building in Fairbanks, Alaska. 

But the madness doesn’t stop there.  The legislation also includes funds for the murderous Planned Parenthood.  The bill subsidizes the Biden administration’s radical green energy policies and increases the annual budget for the Internal Revenue Service by a whopping $12.6 billion just so they can further harass taxpayers. 

Also, this week, Congress voted to suspend energy imports from Russia after Joe Biden earlier announced that he would be suspending oil and gas imports from Russia. The fact is, Republicans in Congress got played by going along with Biden.  I was one of only 17 members of Congress to vote against this hastily drafted legislation. 

And let me explain why I did.

First, let’s start with a bit of truth that Mr. Biden has been running from, shall we?  Biden likes to blame Putin for the high cost of gasoline. That’s a bunch of malarkey.  Joe Biden’s war on American energy independence created this energy crisis, has jeopardized our national security, and is now fueling Putin's war on Ukraine.  He owns it. 

Biden’s first executive orders in January 2021 stopped oil and gas exploration in the Gulf, in Alaska and shut some fracking and two necessary pipelines.   That started the price increases due to expected shortages. 

Remember in 2020 when Mr. Biden had this to say: “No more subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. No more drilling, including offshore.  No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill.  It ends.” He wasn’t kidding.

And in case anyone reading this has forgotten, gas prices went from $2.33 the last month Trump  (blessed be him) was president in January 2021 to $3.90 in February 2022 before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Stop the lies.  Mr. Biden’s anti-energy agenda, not Mr. Putin, caused gasoline to skyrocket across America. I will not provide Joe Biden political cover for his terrible decisions over the past year that have led to these record high gasoline prices.

Climate activists are celebrating. They don’t mind gas costing $7 bucks for a gallon.

One leftist late night show comedian said he was ok if we all paid $15 a gallon.  Of course, like other rich liberals, he makes $10 million a year.

Now Biden says Putin is responsible and my colleagues in Congress went along with it.  So now we are going to give more money to Venezuela and Iran. And Congress and Joe Biden call that a victory.

Here’s a pro tip: it’s not good enough to ban Russian oil and gas if we are not going to open up American oil and gas.

Joe Biden needs to end his freeze on all new oil and gas projects, approve pipelines and energy development and stop harming Americans.

I voted against this mess.

This week, the Department of Labor showed that inflation soared to 7.9%, the highest in four decades.  Joe Biden’s response: Putin did it!

Inflation was just 1.4% in January 2021, the last month President Trump was in office.  Now, because of Biden’s reckless, irresponsible multi-trillion dollar spending increases and anti-growth policies, inflation has risen every month since Biden has been in office.

Here’s something that should comfort everyone: Treasury Secretary Yellen told CNBC on Friday that “we’re likely to see another year in which 12-month inflation numbers remain uncomfortably high.”

Inflation is a hidden tax on everyone.  Current inflation costs the average American household $3600 a year, according to a report by Moody’s Analytics.  It pains me to say this, but it is only going to get worse.

Did you know that fentanyl is the leading cause of death in Americans ages 18-45?  

Biden's open-border policies have turned every state into a border state. Too many of us have friends and loved ones directly impacted by this terrible epidemic. Let's lead the way in an honest and thoughtful discussion about its origins and steps we can take to combat it.

When: *Tomorrow* Monday, March 14, 1-3 P.M.

Where: Goodyear Recreation Campus

420 South Estrella Parkway

Goodyear, AZ 85338

RSVP: Penny.Pew@mail.house.gov

Washington Examiner: Yes, Biden’s climate policies empowered Putin

Judicial Watch: Illegal Immigrant Murders 4 in Jurisdiction of Sheriff Sued for Reporting Alien Criminals to ICE

The Federalist: We Knew Before He Took Office That Joe Biden Would Set Foreign Policy On Fire

New York Post: Why we must demand that leaders who got COVID wrong admit it and apologize

National File: Starbucks Employee Claims to Have Spit in a Conservative Student's Coffee

New York Post: As threat of nuclear war looms, how Democrats spin a crisis

New York Post: New York Times’ Matthew Rosenberg calls colleagues ‘bitches,’ says left overreacted to Capitol riot: video

Project Veritas Video link

National File : OMNIBUS spending bill has anti-second amendment provisions

Epoch Times: Alabama eliminates gun permits; restores the Second Amendment

We will be holding office hours in Lake Havasu City and Parker at the end of this month. Call 928-445-1683 to schedule your appointment today!