House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
[This story has been corrected to show that the full 1,603-page text of the Omnibus Appropriations bill was posted online by the House on Tuesday evening. The story initially reported that only explanatory statements on the bill had been posted.]
(CNSNews.com) - The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has cut a deal with Senate Democrats on a government funding bill that will permit funding for the implementation of President Obama's unilateral amnesty of as many as five million illegal aliens through at least Feb. 27, 2015.
By contrast, the bill also uses Congress's power of the purse to prohibit the administration from moving forward with regulations that would effectively outlaw incandescent light bulbs.
In short, the deal says: Yes to amnesty, no to light bulb regulations.
House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers and Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski issued a joint statement applauding their "bipartisan" accomplishment in completing the spending deal."After months of thorough, business-like, sometimes tough but always civil negotiations, we have reached a responsible, bipartisan and bicameral agreement on funding for government operations for 2015," said Rogers and Mikulski in their statement. "This bill fulfills our constitutional duty to fund the government, preventing damage from shutdown politics that are bad for the economy, cost jobs and hurt middle class families."
This joint bipartisan statement made no mention of the funding agreement for the Department of Homeland Security or President Obama's unilateral actions on immigration--or of House Speaker John Boehner's assertions that Obama's unilateral actions on immigration were a serious breach of the Constitution and a serious threat to our system of government.
In a statment he issued on his own, through the House Appropriations Committee, Chairman Rogers explained that the bill funded almost all of the government through the end of this fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2015, but funded the Department of Homeland Security only through Feb. 27.
By cutting a deal with Senate Democrats to fund almost all of the government through the end of fiscal 2015, the House Republican leadership has taken away from the incoming Republican majorities in both houses of Congress any control over spending in those parts of the government through Sept. 30--and also any leverage that the Republican Congress could have derived from its power of the purse over these parts of the government to force the administration to alter its policies.
By cutting a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 27, the House Republican leadership has given President Obama more than two and a half months to move forward with his unilateral amnesty of illegal aliens. During that time, Obama will be able to give illegal aliens visas and Social Security Numbers.
“The bill includes full Appropriations legislation and funding for 11 of the 12 annual Appropriations bills through the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2015," said the statement put out by Chairman Rogers' House Appropriations Committee. "The 12th bill, which funds the Department of Homeland Security, is also included in the legislation, but is funded under a temporary 'Continuing Resolution' mechanism that expires on February 27, 2015.”
The 1,603 page text of the bill was posted online at the House of Representatives' "Bills to be Considered on the House Floor" page.
Although the announced bill places no restrictions on the Obama administration spending money from the Treasury to carry out his unilateral amnesty, it does not shy away from using Congress's constitutional power of the purse in other areas.
For example, the bill prohibits Obama from spending a penny to carry out regulations that would effectively prohibit incandescent light bulbs in the United States.
A statement by the House Approprations Committee says that the bill includes a "provision prohibiting funding for the Administration’s onerous 'light bulb' standard, which prevents incandescent bulbs from being manufactured or sold, despite a continued public desire for these products.”
An "explanatory statement" posted on "Bills to be Considered on the House Floor" says: "The agreement includes a provision regarding prohibiting funds to implement or enforce higher efficiency light bulb standards."
Congress apparently is not worried that Obama will veto the bill and shut down the federal government in order to continue his administration's policy on incandescent light bulbs.