Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Mark Meadows on Sunday berated passage of a massive spending deal that boosts spending — and the federal deficit — saying it “makes a drunken sailor blush.”
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” the conservative North Carolina Republican also debunked the notion that passage of the deal was a death knell for the Freedom Caucus.
“Our leadership caved,” Meadows said. “ Our ... plan was to make sure that we funded the military, we kept other spending flat, that's what we passed yet what we got put on the House floor just a few hours later was an unbelievable budget deal that spent American taxpayer dollars. "
“The swamp is obviously deeper,” Meadows declared. “When we look at a $300 billion budget over 10 years, it makes a drunken sailor blush,” he said.
Meadows also said the House has to move forward on its own bill on the terminated Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects illegal immigrants brought to the country as children by their parents.
“It’s critical that we get ahead and work” on immigration even before the Senate offers a bill, he said, adding, “We're going to engage and hold the [House Speaker] to his word.”
Conservatives are pushing for action on a bill by Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte, despite the fact it might not pass the House, wouldn’t pass the Senate, and would undermine bipartisan efforts with Democrats.
He summarized the bill as one with “an emphasis on border security and not creating a special pathway to citizenship."
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