The conservative Heritage Action criticized the bipartisan six-bill minibus spending package as "tone deaf" and issued a "key vote" of no on Tuesday.
Congressional leaders on Sunday unveiled the package to fully fund several federal agencies, including Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation, Justice, among others. The bill must pass both chambers and get signed this week to avoid a partial shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
Overall, the package includes $450 billion in funding for fiscal year 2024. Heritage Action, the advocacy arm of the Heritage Foundation, balked hard after 48 hours of its deep dive.
"The time for barely noticeable budget cuts on the margins is over, and this minibus package fails to meet the moment," Heritage Action Executive Vice President Ryan Walker said in a statement released Tuesday.
At issue for Heritage and congressional conservatives, in part, are the more than 6,000 earmarks in the package, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who announced his candidacy to replace Mitch McConnell as Republican leader in the Senate, requested $116 million worth of earmarks, The Hill reported.
"Conservatives have repeatedly sounded the alarm about our bloated balance sheet and wide-open border for months," Walker added. "But lawmakers disregarded those warnings, and after almost a year of negotiations produced a minibus barely distinguishable from the unacceptable bills of the past — full of tone-deaf earmarks and budget gimmicks masquerading as cuts, with no attempts to defund Biden policies facilitating the border crisis."
By issuing a "key vote," Heritage has put lawmakers on notice that how they vote will impact their Heritage Action scorecard. Thune comes in at 40% on the scorecard.
"We cannot support forcing Americans to fund earmarks that waste $1 million on an 'environmental justice center' or $4 million on a Green New Deal police station while 60% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck because of reckless government spending," Walker wrote. "Congress must learn to live by the same restricted budget it's inflicted on hardworking families across the country."
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., started blasting the spending package hours after it came out. He also called out the Senate Majority Leader's environmental justice center.
"@SenSchumer just released the text for the first six spending bills we're supposed to vote on this week that includes 605 PAGES OF EARMARKS. One example? Schumer's $1 MILLION ask to build a new environmental justice center in NYC," Scott posted to X.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., released a statement in support of the minibus soon after it was released.
"House Republicans secured key conservative policy victories, rejected left-wing proposals, and imposed sharp cuts to agencies and programs critical to President Biden's agenda," Johnson said.
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