Pete Stark: “the omnibus appropriations agreement will pass the Congress with ease this week and Members of Congress will exchange…”

“the omnibus appropriations agreement will pass the Congress with ease this week and Members of Congress will exchange accolades about what a wonderful bill it is. Baloney! For the first time since the budget process was established in 1974, Congress failed to pass a budget resolution--a roadmap for spending your tax dollars. Without a roadmap, you run amuck. That's exactly what is happening in Washington this week. This omnibus appropriation bill rolls eight separate appropriations bills together and includes special interest provisions designed to buy votes for final passage. The resulting bill is an abomination. The big picture is that any semblance of budget discipline has disintegrated. The last minute horse trading spent $20.8 billion in funds that were ``surplus'' only by government accounting semantics. The so-called surplus funds are really attributable to a temporary surplus in the Social Security trust funds. The trust funds need this entire surplus--and much more--to fund payments to the Baby Boomers when they retire. This bill spends an extra $20.8 billion because the negotiators were more interested in saving face than saving money. The taxpayers will pay the multi-billion dollar price for this ``one-for-me and one-for-you'' final agreement.”