by The Editorial Board at The Wall Street Journal
The 117th Congress has been the most spendthrift in history, and this week it plans to go out with one final bipartisan back-slapping hurrah—a 4,155-page omnibus spending bill that is the worst in history. This is no way to govern in a democracy, but here we are.
The Members, in their efforts to disguise what they’re doing, rolled out the final product late Monday night. They plan to whip it through by Thursday while Americans are busy with pre-Christmas plans and before even the Members know what they’re voting on.
Democrats failed in their duty to pass normal spending bills, so they are using this omnibus to finance all of government with $1.65 trillion for fiscal 2023. But wait, it’s worse. Congress is also adding major policy changes many of which deserve separate votes or couldn’t pass by themselves—from healthcare to presidential election rules to regulation of the beauty industry (see nearby).
A bill this large—1,500 pages more than last year’s omnibus—can’t be all bad, and this contains a few bright spots. One is $858 billion for defense, a 9.7% increase. That’s $45 billion more than President Biden sought, and it will backfill dwindling weapons stocks, give military members a 4.6% pay raise, and help stabilize the naval fleet, among other urgent needs.
There’s $45 billion in new military and economic aid for Ukraine in its desperate fight against Vladimir Putin’s attempt to conquer more of Europe. There are also new incentives for retirement savings, including an increase to 75 in the age holders must begin to withdraw funds. So much for most of the good news.
Republicans claim they’ve broken the longtime Democratic demand for defense-non-defense spending “parity,” but that’s not clear. The GOP says non-defense discretionary is $787 billion, a 7.9% increase, which is on top of the $4.6 trillion Congress has already spent over two years.
But House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro says…