Congress’ most basic responsibility is to ensure our homeland is secure and American families remain safe from those who wish to do us harm. But Washington Democrats are collectively sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring the coming budget crisis, which would jeopardize that security so many of us rely upon. The reality is, based on Nancy Pelosi’s schedule, the House of Representatives has only 18 legislative days left before the end of the fiscal year in September, when both Chambers of Congress and the President are to have signed into law the legislation needed to keep government functioning and performing those most basic requirements. With no federal budget passed, and no appropriations bills voted on, we are barreling full steam ahead toward a government shutdown.
When things are operating properly, the President would propose a budget early in the year and both the House and Senate would pass a budget resolution by April 15, allowing time for robust debate on our nation’s spending priorities. But because Speaker Pelosi is entirely focused on unrelated spending outside of governments’ core responsibilities, to fund liberal wish-list items, she has declined to do the hard work of negotiating with the Senate on a budget. As the Republican Leader of the Budget Committee, I’ve been particularly outraged that she hasn’t even allowed us to debate on the House Floor or in committee on what Democrats believe we should be spending.
As we’ve seen over the past six months since Joe Biden took office, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have taken a “go it alone” partisan approach to governing -- putting politics over people when it should be the exact opposite. Instead of prioritizing bipartisan legislation that will put working class families back in the driver’s seat, they’re using their narrow majority to move the country further and further to the left, leaving rural America in the dust. Whether it’s the Biden Bailout Bill that funneled billions of extra dollars to pro-lockdown governors or Joe Biden’s infrastructure boondoggle that seems to fund everything except actual infrastructure, it’s clear that Washington Democrats are entirely focused on increasing Washington control over the lives and livelihoods of American families.