While discussing the 4,155-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package that Democrats and establishment Republicans are trying to ram through the lame-duck session of Congress, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said that much of the “big emergency numbers” in the bill are “going overseas,” and he doesn’t anticipate that there will be “any extraordinary inflationary effect.”
Here is some of what we know is in the Omnibus. It was negotiated in secrecy and is 4,000 pages. Imagine what we don’t know is in it. Congress has taken advantage of the Christmas season by using the Holiday as leverage to push through this $1.66 trillion omnibus spending bill. pic.twitter.com/SVPTur6Qy6
— Kambree (@KamVTV) December 20, 2022
During a Tuesday appearance on “CNN Newsroom,” Murphy claimed that everything in the omnibus spending package was “absolutely necessary for the health of the country” — even the money being sent overseas to aid other countries, including to fight the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Democrat senator also asserted that the U.S. is having “much-needed downward pressure on inflation.”
CNN co-host Jim Sciutto asked, “So, first on the topline number. This bill comes in at $1.7 trillion. As The Wall Street Journal noted, that’s getting nearly as large as the $1.9 trillion March 2020 COVID relief bill, given ongoing inflation and price hikes, is this an inflationary budget?”
“What you’re seeing is much-needed downward pressure on inflation,” Murphy claimed. “What we’re funding in this bill are essential services. This is mostly a bill about obligations, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. There are some big emergency numbers in this bill. But much of that is going overseas.”
The Democrat senator went on to cite the “40-plus billion dollars for Ukraine,” which includes both military and economic aid. This is much higher than the $37 billion President Joe Biden requested.
“I don’t think there’s anything in this bill that isn’t absolutely necessary for the health of the country,” Murphy asserted. “I don’t anticipate that it’ll have any extraordinary inflationary effect.”
Meanwhile, there’s plenty in the omnibus bill that has absolutely nothing to do with the “health” of the United States — such as increased border security in the Middle East. The legislation includes $410 million “for enhanced border security” in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Oman.
It also includes $2.4 billion in funding to refugee contractors to resettle more Ukrainian refugees in the United States from the Russia-Ukraine war.
There are also approximately 7,500 earmarks totaling roughly $16 billion for members of Congress in the bill, which Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) called out in a fiery speech on the House floor.
Rep. Chip Roy RIPS swamp omnibus bill in HALF on the House Floor, goes NUCLEAR on Republicans for selling out Americans 🔥 pic.twitter.com/YLe7Aq18Ed
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 16, 2022
All of this money going overseas and the rest of the unnecessary spending stuffed into the massive omnibus bill comes at a time when inflation is skyrocketing and Americans are suffering due to the state of the economy.
