Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, are still seething over the Senate passing last week's $1.7 trillion omnibus bill, and apparently not waiting until 2023 to negotiate terms for such a massive spending initiative.
And from the two senators' perspective, the brunt of blame lies squarely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
"The arrogance of our [Senate GOP] leadership who said, 'We know better than House members. We're going to pass this. We'll get religion next year when it comes to fiscal sanity,'" Johnson told John Catsimatidis in a Sunday interview that aired on national radio.
"I'm not buying it. Unfortunately, our supporters aren't going to buy it either," added Johnson.
The Wisconsin Republican voted against the measure last week.
However, it still garnered passage through the Senate, with the help of a large handful of Republican senators — including Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, Alabama's Richard Shelby, Missouri's Roy Blunt, Maine's Susan Collins, Texas' John Cornyn, Ohio's Rob Portman, South Dakota's John Thune, Utah's Mitt Romney, and the aforementioned McConnell — who are primarily viewed as more "establishment" GOP than "America First" lawmakers.
On Friday, the omnibus bill cleared the House in a largely party line 225-201 vote, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., being the only Democrat to file a dissenting vote.
During Sunday's radio interview, Senator Johnson was rankled by McConnell's apparent refusal to delay an omnibus vote until after the new year — coinciding with the Republicans taking over the House chamber.
As for Senator Lee, whose Title 42 amendment for the omnibus bill had been derailed by 10 U.S. senators favoring a supposedly weaker amendment alternatively addressing the chaos at the United States-Mexico border, he pointedly believes that McConnell intentionally caved to the whims of Senate Democrats — perhaps out of spite for other conservatives.
"Our party leadership turned on Republican voters, turned on the Republican base, turned on most Republican senators," Lee told Catsimatidis. "It has happened before, but this is one too many times. For me, this is the final straw.
"As Republicans scratch their heads over their disappointing midterms, they ought to consider that voters don’t see much of a defining difference with Democrats," added Lee.
There were House criticisms for the McConnell-led Senate Republicans, as well.
On Friday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. mocked GOP Senate leadership for letting the omnibus bill get off the ground, referring to much of the proverbial "pork" in the bill as funding "left-wing pet projects."
"This is a monstrosity. That is one of the most shameful acts I've ever seen in his body," said McCarthy.
"The appropriations process has failed the American public, and there's no greater example of the nail in the coffin of the greatest failure of a one-party rule of the House, the Senate, and the presidency," added McCarthy.
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