Rep. Carter to Newsmax: Americans Left 'Holding the Bag' If $1T Bill Passes

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., told Newsmax Wednesday that Americans will be left "holding the bag" on a proposed $1 trillion bipartisan omnibus bill which would fund the government through 2023.

"All this money is going to the different senators and their pet projects," said Carter during "Rob Schmitt Tonight."

"You've got the two primary authors of this bill, they're not going to be responsible. They're going to be gone next year," added Carter.

One of the lawmakers authoring the deal, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement Tuesday, according to Roll Call, that Democrats and Republicans had "reached a bipartisan, bicameral framework that should allow us to finish an omnibus appropriations bill that can pass the House and Senate and be signed into law by [President Joe Biden.]"

The proposed legislation would fund the government through 2023 and avoid a series of smaller, stopgap measures to be taken before the Dec. 16 funding deadline that, if missed, could cause a governmental shutdown.

Carter, however, said that bill authors Leahy and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who are retiring before the new Congress takes over in January, have apparently added in several items that American taxpayers are going to be left footing the bill for after Leahy, Shelby, and others, leave Congress.

"Next year, at this time, when all this spending is going on, they are going to be nowhere to be found," Carter said. "They won't be in Congress. They're not going to be responsible for this. We are going to be left holding the bag. We, the Citizens of America, the taxpayers, we're going to be the ones left holding the bag."

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the "broadly appealing" bipartisan legislation would fund defense without giving in to pet Democrat social spending.

"I think we're very close to getting an omnibus appropriation bill that would be, I think, broadly appealing," the Wall Street Journal reported McConnell telling reporters. "It would meet the defense number of the [National Defense Authorization Act] without having to pay a bonus above what President Biden asked for domestic priorities of the Democrats."

While McConnell appears to be on board on the Senate side, Politico reported Wednesday that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who's on track to become House speaker, told his House caucus "hell no" to the agreement during a closed-door meeting.

Also, several other House Republicans are reportedly expressing opposition to the omnibus bill.

Carter, who is hoping to become chair of the House Budget Committee when the GOP majority takes over next month, said that most members of Congress come from their respective state legislatures. As such, they're used to balancing their state budgets by law, a practice which vanishes once they get to Washington, D.C.

"I'm running for chair of the budget committee next session, and I'm going to tell you there's going to be a new sheriff in town because we have got to get back to regular order," said Carter.

"We have to get back to passing a budget, following the guidelines that have been set up, meeting our dates that we're supposed to be meeting," said Carter. "We've got to get back to fiscal responsibility."

About NEWSMAX TV:

NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!