Below the post are the names and numbers of Democrats up for reelection in 2012 and the four Republican's contact information that have indicated they are contemplating voting for this omnibus bill.In a move designed to run the clock out on Harry Reid so he cannot shove the newly unveiled 1,924 page Omnibus bill, costing $1.1 trillion and loaded with 6,600 earmarks aka pork, down America's throat before the 111th Congress ends and the 112th begins, Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)will force the reading of the the entire Omnibus bill on the Senate floor, which jams 12 different appropriation bills into one giant mess.
Along with that, DeMint will insist the new START bill also be read aloud.
The Onmibus bill alone could take anywhere from 40 to 60 hours of floor time.
The readings could eat up a substantial amount of time in the closing days of the lame-duck Congress, in which Senate Democrats are racing against the clock to pass through a number of priorities. Democrats hope to pass a tax-cut bill, on which they'll vote Wednesday afternoon, along with a repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell," the START Treaty and the DREAM Act immigration bill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) "hoped" in a floor speech Wednesday that DeMint would not force a full reading, calling the move a "colossal waste of time."
Floor readings of measures before the Senate are typically waived by unanimous consent without any objections. But if a senator were to require that lengthy bills be read, the delay could take hours. (The omnibus is over 1,900 pages.)
I said yesterday when first reporting on this gigantic, pork laden bill, that this was Harry Reid's final FU to America and Republicans needed to do whatever it took to stop Reid and DeMint is stepping up to the plate to do just that.
Harry Reid is determined to jam as much as possible through in the last days of this session of Congress and reactions to this last minute bill which has had no substantial deliberation and virtually none if anybody has had a chance to actually read, including those expected to vote for it.
November 2, 2010 voters overwhelmingly rejected the Democrats way of doing business, especially spending tax payers money like drunken sailors and Republicans in one of their first gestures showing they understood the message signed on to a two-year ban of earmarks.
Democrats still control both house's of Congress until January when Republicans take control of the House of Representatives and add will enjoy another five seats (6 but one has already been seated) in the Senate which will help rein in Harry Reid's mischief such as this omnibus bill.
Until then, Republicans have no choice but to fight against this type of last minute rush spending to lock Congress into it these figures for the next year.
The purpose of forcing the omnibus bill to be read aloud will be to run out Reid's time, as The Politico explains.
With the window closing on the 111th Congress, forcing a reading of the omnibus spending bill could further extend the lame-duck session until the end of the year, or force Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to scale back an ambitious agenda, which includes a repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, ratification of the START treaty, confirmation of stalled nominations and a vote on an immigration bill known as the Dream Act.
To that end, Senate Republicans, with this move are doing their part, John Boehner is publicly pressuring Barack Obama to veto this 41.1 trillion omnibus bill, The Hill reports:
"If President Obama is truly serious about ending earmarks, he should oppose Senate Democrats’ pork-laden omnibus spending bill and announce he will veto it if necessary," Boehner said in a statement.
A lot of chatter will show there are Republican earmarks in this bill and The Hill article shows why:
"I am actively working to defeat it. I think there are many Senate members who have provisions in it for their states who are also actively working to defeat it," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday. "This bill should not go forward."
Congressional Republicans are instead pushing a much more modest bill that would fund the government for a few months, and let the empowered GOP Congress next year pick up the slack instead.
The current omnibus bill cobbles together spending contained in several other bills that never received congressional action this year. That means that earmarks inserted by both Democrats and Republicans are in the omnibus, because the basic legislation was crafted before House and Senate Republicans adopted their earmark moratorium.
"Instead of making reckless spending decisions in the waning days of the lame-duck session, Senate Democrats should stand down so we can get to work on cleaning up Washington’s fiscal mess," Boehner said.
Emphasis mine.
Reactions
U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) released the following statement regarding the Democrats' proposed omnibus spending bill:
“After neglecting to pass a budget and any of the thirteen annual spending bills this year, today we learn Senate Democrats now want to sandwich them together, totaling almost 2,000 pages, and jam them through in the waning moments of this Lame Duck session before anyone can read them. This political end-around reveals just how quickly my colleagues across the aisle have already forgotten the voters’ message in November, and I urge Senate Democrats to keep the wishes of the American people in mind as they consider this move.”
U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, chairman of the Senate Steering Committee and member of the Joint Economic Committee, made the following statement after Senate Democrats released a 1,924 page omnibus spending bill with thousands of earmarks attached.
“President Obama and Democrats have apparently learned nothing from this November’s election. This nearly 2,000-page omnibus filled with thousands of earmarks shows they are still determined to ram through as much big-government spending as they can in this lame duck session. Americans loudly demanded an end to the runaway spending, but Democrats are intent on raiding every taxpayer dollar that they can grab from the Treasury on their way out of power. This bill also funds the unconstitutional Obamacare law that Americans oppose and have asked Congress to fully repeal. Democrats haven’t given Republicans or the American people time to read the bill, but I’ll join with other Republican colleagues to force them to read it on the Senate floor.”
Senator John McCain:
“Mr. President, at 12:15 p.m. this afternoon, my office received a copy of the omnibus appropriations bill. It is 1,924 pages long and contains the funding for all 12 of the annual appropriations bills for a grand total of over $1.1 Trillion. It is important to note that the 1,924 pages is only the legislative language and does not include the thousands of pages of report language which contain the details of the billions of dollars in earmarks and, I’m sure, countless policy riders.
“While we continue to uncover which earmarks the appropriators decided to fund – thanks to a new online database – we at least know what earmarks were requested by Members and how much those projects would cost the American people if they were all funded. Taxpayers against Earmarks, www.washingtonwatch.com and Taxpayers for Common Sense joined forces to create this database. According to the data they compiled – for fiscal year 2011 Members requested over 39,000 earmarks totaling over $130 billion. Absolutely disgraceful. I encourage every American to go to the website www.endingspending.com study it, and make yourselves aware of how your elected officials seek to spend your money.
“In the short time I’ve had to review this massive piece of legislation – I’ve identified approximately 6,488 earmarks totaling nearly $8.3 billion. Here is a small sample:
$277,000 for potato pest management in Wisconsin
$246,000 for bovine tuberculosis in Michigan and Minnesota
$522,000 for cranberry and blueberry disease and breeding in New Jersey
$500,000 for oyster safety in Florida
$349,000 for swine waste management in North Carolina
$413,000 for peanut research in Alabama
$247,000 for virus free wine grapes in Washington
$208,000 beaver management in North Carolina
$94,000 for blackbird management in Louisiana
$165,000 for maple syrup research in Vermont
$235,000 for noxious weed management in Nevada
$100,000 for the Edgar Allen Poe Cottage Visitor’s Center in New York
$300,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii
$400,000 for solar parking canopies and plug-in electric stations in Kansas
“Additionally, the bill earmarks $727,000 to compensate ranchers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan whenever endangered wolves eat their cattle. As my colleagues know, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Gray Wolf program is under intense scrutiny for wasting millions of taxpayer dollars every year to ‘recover’ endangered wolves that are now overpopulating the West and Midwest. My State of Arizona has a similar wolf program but ranchers in my state aren’t getting $727,000 in this bill.
“Mr. President, I will have much more to say about this bill later this week. I assure my colleagues – we will spend a great deal of time talking about this bill and the outrageous number of earmarks it contains. But for now let me just say this: it is December 14th – we are 22 days away from the beginning of a new Congress and nearly three full months into fiscal year 2011 – and yet we have not debated a single spending bill or considered any amendments to cut costs or get our debt under control. Furthermore, the majority decided that they just didn’t feel like doing a budget this year. How is that responsible leadership?
“This is the ninth omnibus appropriations bill we have considered in this body since 2000. That is shameful and we should be embarrassed by the fact that we care so little about doing the people’s business that we continuously put off fulfilling our constitutional responsibilities until the very last minute.
“One thing is abundantly clear to me – that the majority has not learned the lessons of last month’s election. The American people could not have been more clear. They are tired of wasteful spending. They are tired of big government. They are tired of sweetheart deals for special interests. They are tired of business as usual in Washington. And they are tired of massive bills – just like this one – put together behind closed doors, and rammed through the Congress at the last moment so that no one has the opportunity to read them and no one really knows what kind of waste is in them.
“Let me be clear about one thing – if the Majority Leader insists on proceeding to this monstrosity - the American people will know what’s in it. I will be joined by many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle to ensure that every single word of this bill is read aloud here on the Senate floor.
“I encourage my friends on the other side of the aisle to rethink their strategy and move forward with a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government into next year when a new Congress takes over – a Congress that was elected by the American people on November 2nd. “The majority may be able to strong arm enough members into voting for this omnibus – but they will not win in the end. The American people will remember – and I predict that we will see a repeat of November 2nd in the very near future.”
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the need to pass a sensible CR rather than a 2,000-page omnibus spending bill:
“Yesterday Democrat leaders unveiled an Omnibus spending bill that some have described as one last spending binge for a Congress that will be long be remembered for them.
“The Senate should reject it.
“It appeared to some of us that we were making good progress on the economy when lawmakers in both parties agreed Monday to let taxpayers keep more of their own money.
“But yesterday, Democrats unveiled a 2,000 page spending bill that repeats all the mistakes voters demanded that we put an end to on Election Day.
“Americans told Democrats last month to stop what they’ve been doing: bigger government, 2,000-page bills jammed through on Christmas Eve, wasteful spending.
“This bill is a monument to all three.
“It includes more than $1billion to fund the Democrat health care bill.
“For those of us who’ve vowed to repeal it, this alone is reason to oppose to Omnibus.
“It’s being dropped on us with just a few days to go before the Christmas break, ensuring that no one in Congress has a chance to examine it thoroughly before the vote.
“And ensuring that Americans don’t have a chance to see what’s in it either.
“This too is reason enough to oppose it.
“For two years, Republicans have railed against the Democrats for rushing legislation through Congress. But this is, without doubt, one of the worst abuses of the process yet.
“The voters made an unambiguous statement last month: they don’t like the wasteful spending, they don’t want the Democrat health care bill, and they don’t want lawmakers rushing staggeringly complex, staggeringly expensive bills through Congress without any time for people to study what’s buried in the details.
“This bill is a legislative slap in the face to all those voters who rejected these things.
“For the first time in the modern era, Congress hasn’t passed a single appropriations bill.
“Democrats have been too focused on their own left-wing wing wish to take care of the basics.
“And now, at the end of the session, they want to roll all those bills together, along with anything else they haven’t gotten over the past two years, and rush it past the American people just the way they jammed the health care bill through Congress last Christmas.
“I think a more appropriate approach is to pass a sensible, short-term CR that gets us into next year, when the new Congress will have the opportunity to make a determination on how to best spend taxpayers’ money.
“The government runs out of money this Saturday. Congress should pass a short-term CR immediately.
“We need to pass the tax legislation we voted on earlier this week.
“And we should accomplish the most basic function of government — we can at least vote to keep the lights on around here.
“I mean, the deadline for funding the basics of government was October, and here we are on December 15th proposing treaties.
“Pass the tax legislation and keep the lights on.
“Everything else can wait.”
The midterm elections proved one thing without a doubt, voters remember and vote accordingly and to that end, while Republican Senators move to block this out-of-control omnibus spending bill and Republican House leaders prepare to battle it in the last days of the House being controlled by Nancy Pelosi and a majority of Democrats, there is something we can do.
There are 23 Senate Democrats that will be up for reelection in 2012 and we can let them know that shoving this last minute spending spree down American's throats will be remembered and we will once again act accordingly if they force it through using their majorities in the last days of the 111th Congress.
The list below was created to block the DREAM Act, but the same Democrats need to understand their reelection chances are zero if they manage to force this omnibus bill through at the last minute as Reid is attempting to do.
CONTACT INFO
Daniel Akaka, Hawaii:
141 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6361
Web Form: akaka.senate.gov/email-senator-akaka.cfm
Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico.
703 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5521
Web Form: bingaman.senate.gov/contact/
Sherrod Brown, Ohio.
713 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2315
Web Form: brown.senate.gov/contact/
Joe Manchin, West Virginia.
1 RUSSELL COURTYARD WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3954
Maria Cantwell, Washington
511 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3441
Web Form: cantwell.senate.gov/contact/
Benjamin Cardin, Maryland
509 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4524
Web Form: cardin.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Thomas Carper, Delaware.
513 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2441
Web Form: carper.senate.gov/contact/
Robert Casey, Jr., Pennsylvania
393 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6324
Web Form: casey.senate.gov/contact/
Kent Conrad, North Dakota
530 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2043
Web Form: conrad.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm
Diane Feinstein, California
331 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3841
Web Form: http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe
Kirsten Gillibrand, New York.
478 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4451
Web Form: gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota.
302 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3244
Web Form: klobuchar.senate.gov/emailamy.cfm
Herb Kohl, Wisconsin.
330 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5653
Web Form: kohl.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Claire McCaskill, Missouri
717 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6154
Web Form: mccaskill.senate.gov/?p=contact
Robert Menendez, New Jersey.
528 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4744
Web Form: menendez.senate.gov/contact/
Ben Nelson, Nebraska.
716 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5274
Web Form: billnelson.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Bill Nelson, Florida.
720 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6551
Web Form: bennelson.senate.gov/contact-me.cfm
Debbie Stabenow, Michigan.
133 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4822
Web Form: stabenow.senate.gov/email.cfm
Jon Tester, Montana.
724 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2644
Web Form: tester.senate.gov/Contact/index.cfm
Jim Webb, Virginia.
248 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4024
Web Form: webb.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island
502 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2921
Web Form: whitehouse.senate.gov/contact/
Barack Obama is also up for reelection in 2012.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
Web Form: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
DeMint forcing the reading of the 1,924 pages aloud on the floor should give us all ample opportunity to have our voices heard, loudly and clearly.
Also, a few Republican Senators are contemplating voting for this monstrosity:
Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah)- retiring so he might be a lost cause.
Sen. Kit Bond (Mo.)
Washington, DC Office
274 Russell Senate Office Building.
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-5721
Web Form: http://bond.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.ContactForm
George Voinovich (Ohio)
Washington D.C. Office
524 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3353
Web Form: http://voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
Susan Collins (Maine)
DC Office Information
413 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2523
Fax: (202) 224-2693
Web Form: http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.EmailIssue&CFID=66116476&CFTOKEN=59190063
PS- I know folks are busy during the holidays. shopping, wrapping, mailing, decorating... but stopping Reid in these last days of this congressional session has to be a priority, please take some time out of your schedule and help.
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