The year-end omnibus federal spending bill moved one step closer to becoming law as it passed the Senate yesterday. The Wall Street Journal reported:
Senators passed a $1.65 trillion spending bill just ahead of the Christmas holiday and a gathering winter storm, after breaking an impasse related to immigration policy and racing through more than a dozen amendments.
The bipartisan bill was approved in a 68-29 vote. The legislation will now go to the House, where it is expected to pass, before heading to President Biden’s desk.
The omnibus legislation includes $858 billion in military spending, $45 billion more than the White House had requested and up about 10% from $782 billion the prior year. It also includes $772.5 billion in nondefense discretionary spending, up almost 6% from $730 billion the prior year. The overall discretionary price tag works out to about $1.65 trillion, compared with $1.5 trillion the prior fiscal year. Article
The bill includes a $600 million appropriation for Jackson's water system. Senator Roger Wicker announced his support for the bill earlier this week:
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today declared his intent to vote in favor of a year-end funding agreement. The proposed bill would fully fund the nation’s military and avoid a continuing resolution (CR) that would shortchange defense spending. Senator Wicker has been a longstanding opponent of CRs, citing their costly impact on national security.
“The harsh reality is that, as China and Russia build up their militaries, the U.S. will not be prepared to prevent warfare unless we make the right investments in our national defense,” Wicker said. “Every day we operate under a continuing resolution destroys our military readiness and deterrence and costs our service members hundreds of millions in lost capacity and overruns. This legislation fully funds our National Defense Authorization Act while cutting the President’s proposed increase in domestic spending by 50%. It represents the best possible opportunity to end this budget stalemate, avoid a CR, and get our military men and women the resources they need to win.”
BACKGROUND:
The year-end funding agreement includes all of Senate Republicans’ top demands, forcing Democrats to leave out many liberal “poison pill” proposals and to abandon calls for parity in increases for defense and non-defense spending. The result is an agreement that boosts defense funding by 10% over the previous fiscal year, while cutting domestic spending relative to inflation. The final increase for domestic spending is 50% below the President’s budget request. The legislation also preserves longstanding federal agreements supported by conservatives, including a federal prohibition on funding abortion.
The CR that passed in September and is currently funding the federal government has already cost the Pentagon more than $12 billion in purchasing power relative to this year’s National Defense Authorization Act. That amount could fund two Arleigh-Burke destroyers and the Department of Defense’s entire R&D budget for a new generation of long-range weapons. A full-year CR would cost the military almost $80 billion in lost purchasing power. Even a short-term CR would cost the military as much as $207 million per day.
Top officials at the Department of Defense have repeatedly warned about the enormous damage that operating off an extended CR would do to military readiness. A continuing resolution “continues” funding the government at levels that were set in the year prior. Continuing resolutions also delay the start of important construction and acquisition projects that require Congressional approval. This ban on “new starts” drives up costs for shipbuilders and other manufacturers that depend on carefully-timed purchases to minimize cost and keep their skilled workforce employed.
The year-end funding agreement would fully fund the FY2023 NDAA, which Wicker praised last week for superseding the President’s paltry budget request by $45 billion. Among other provisions, the FY23 NDAA and year-end funding agreement would boost service member pay by 4.6 percent and fund a major boost for Navy shipbuilding programming. Read more about the bill here.
The year-end funding agreement also includes $600 million in emergency funding for water infrastructure projects in Mississippi’s capital city, which would be administered by a third-party manager appointed by the EPA. In November, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi approved a Proposed Stipulated Order assigning an Interim Third-Party Manager to oversee the City of Jackson’s water system, including any federal grants or loans received. This funding would be in addition to two other allocations for Jackson’s water and wastewater infrastructure, bringing the total appropriation for Jackson to $607.6 million for FY23. Beyond Jackson, the year-end funding bill also supports a range of Mississippi infrastructure priorities across the state, including water, wastewater, road, bridge, and internet projects, which Senator Wicker has repeatedly endorsed.
38 comments:
Civic failure rewarded. What a country!
Disappointing that one arm of the Federal government continues raising interest rates to put brakes on the economy while the rest of the Federal government can’t stop spending ever!!
The lesson is break your water system so badly someone else will fix it. Wish we could all run our businesses that way.
Oink Oink Oink Suey Pig. So glad that Wicker got his pork, it makes me feel all warm inside on this cold december day(snark). 1.7 trillion and it includes money for a border wall, just not ours. I want to know how much is going to go to the big guy and all the other leaches that are getting fat on the American taxpayer. The swamp wins, we lose. Don't worry, it's just money, if we run out, we'll print more, Somebody, please watch the printers so they don't run out of ink or get too hot.
@8:46 is correct. The lesson is that incompetence, neglect, laziness, and apathy evidently pay very well in this country.
@8:50 I bet it’s less than Phil & company stole!
On a locally related government water failure issue, now dependent on the feds, are Jackson residents' water and sewer pipe tragedies which produce flooded lagoons over neighborhood streets and yards, being ignored by Jackson officials because they are presuming a future federal fix?
How uncaring and worthless can City government get?
If it wasn’t for pork, ‘federal funds ‘ that the Sip receives, how would the state survive
So, who is running against Wicker in the 2024 primary?
"The CR that passed in September and is currently funding the federal government has already cost the Pentagon more than $12 billion in purchasing power relative to this year’s National Defense Authorization Act."
Anybody out there understand that sentence other than the Schumer and McConnell twins?
The annual interest to service the national debt is now $475 Billion - yes Billion with a B!
"The lesson is that incompetence, neglect, laziness, and apathy evidently pay very well in this country."
That was Lyndon's prediction when he launched the never-to-end Great Society.
Criminally irresponsible. To her credit, CHS voted NO!
Socrates, don't take delivery on that new Mercedes S model just yet. Give it a couple of weeks. Right?
A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon we are talking about real money.
Bennie say he gone go up there and 'bring home the bacon'. He's done such a good job! Jes ride thru the Delta and see what good he done for his peoples. 'Course there are those few that live in million dollar mansions bought with 'bacon',
Wicker, do not reward bad actions. This is past stupid. The people you are helping vote against you and the people you are taxing more are your supporters.
Wicker is a shill for the military industrial complex (not to mention his favorable comments about nuclear war with Russia), but he will have his Senate seat the remainder of his probably very lengthy life, based upon how long his father lived. The military budgets of China and Russia combined aren't even 1/3 of the total U.S. military budget.
Too many people assume that Jackson Ms. because of it's demographics is an isolated case and that many other cities across this country will not face similar crisis in the future. They will be proven wrong. Sometimes it is best to be the first in line rather than the last. It does not make Jackson more worthy, only more obvious and that will work in Jackson's favor. Good luck Jackson.
MS receives more federal dollars than almost any other state in the nation. This is another drop in the bucket. Let's not act like this is new.
As most have stated above, Jackson has been ignoring their infrastructure problems, not collecting water bills, and betting that Uncle Sugar would come in and fix everything. It looks like they are going to win the bet. That just means we will be doing this all over again in 20 years.
Another example of the taxpayers being bribed with their own money.
If only they really did have to actually print the money it might slow them down a bit. As it is, money can be created even easier, with the stroke of a key.
Right?
9:49, apparently Gerard Gibbert, based on his trashing of Sen. Wicker on his radio show today.
The bill seems to be how legislation should be developed-with compromise. “If I can get some things I want, that you don’t want; you can have some things you want, that I don’t want.” I think this is superior to obstruction.
However; neither party, even when controlling Senate, House AND Presidency, seems to have ANY concern about the deficit. This is baffling, and I think what really angers most Americans.
3:25pm
There is no virtue in compromising with evil, those who do simply besmirch themselves. Is it acceptable to step in dog mess with just one foot?
@3:34
This bill is all about enriching the American uniparty, the military industrial complex, and of course, the global central bankers.
Get an effing grip if you honestly think this is “how legislation should work” because this is more can-kicking and selling our children's future to satisfy our shortsightedness today. Typical boomer bullshit.
Dependency is a form of slavery, getting in line for a handout, whether for $6 or $600M, can come with the cost of one's liberty, a little at a time or all at once.
At 3:02 - Well, Mr. Gibert thought he was qualified to become Chancellor at Ole Miss, so you never know. But one might wonder if there's enough mic-time in a Senator's role to satisfy the need.
We ate at a really nice restaurant in North Mississippi last night. Parked against the curb and lo and behold right in front of us on the city square was 'Senator Roger Wicker's Office'.
Keypad beside door with microphone for all who would attempt entry.
This is good news, whether you live in Jackson or the burbs.
4:55, it's more about the title and ring kissing vs. mic-time. You can probably count on one finger how many times that Trent Lott has been a keynote speaker since he quit.
The NAACP, meanwhile, applauds the bill’s passage, saying residents and businesses in the capital city have lacked access to clean water for years due, in large part, to the neglect of the city by the state.
“Today’s action providing emergency funding to address the fundamental need of safe drinking water for every household in Jackson should be celebrated as a promise of equitable infrastructure services for all families everywhere,” NAACP National President Derrick Johnson said. “While this funding is a significant step in the right direction, it represents only a down payment.”
“NAACP and our partners will continue to fight to protect Black and brown communities from environmental racism in Jackson and around the country
-wlbt’s article on subject of the bill passing house
Wonderful that the Federal government will fund & oversee a third party contractor(s) to rebuild & manage the City of Jackson water/sewer system. This will take years & will require water/sewer users to pay for usage. I expect low income users to receive a discounted or minimum fee. At some point long term management of the water/sewer system will be determined but that’s far down the road.
Take-Away from NAACP statement:
1) Neglect by state (white republicans)
2) Equitable infrastructure (equity of outcome)
3) Down Payment (reparations coming)
4) Black & Brown communities (no whites at table)
5) Environmental Racism (whites poison back community)
6) Lacked access (whites holding blacks down)
Dec 23 8:46AM, we don’t live in a free market; otherwise the FED (whomever that is), would not be dictating interest rates at all. From 2008 until recently the FED dictated “fake interest rates,” with savers subsidizing consumers so consumers could buy things they otherwise would not be able to afford (due to the disaster created by the “everybody deserves a house even if they can’t pay for it’ers,” and the big banks that dog f_____ us).
Re: the $600 million, except for the extremely ill-informed, we all know this is more “rewarding the failures and bad behavior of incompetents,” but it is also likely the very best outcome for MS and the Jackson metro area.
Maybe its time we anti-leftist Democrats wake up to the fact that nothing will change anyway until an implosion occurs, so, as far as Mississippi is concerned, incompetent leftist Democrats that can’t run anything or take care of themselves - are Mississippi’s greatest natural resource. If so, as long as the other states want to subsidize Mississippi, keep sending the bacon.
Besides, Dec 23, 11:40AM is right, $600 million is a drop in the bucket. Rich business owners in Mississippi/the US that didn’t need, deserve i.e. didn’t suffer any loss at all, were given more far than $600 million in the PPP scam. So, instead of tax payers buying beach homes and airplanes for rich business owners, at least this $600 million will help some poor people get clean water, that have no way out of (car) Jacktown.
The self-centered here celebrate driving future generations into penury and financial slavery to bear the burden of today's wastrels in Congress.
Once the third-party manager finishes up OBC will deteriorate and fail again under Chowke's third-world management.
Definition of insanity: re-electing Chowke and expecting different results.
Rhino Wicker strikes again and we all are going to pay for it.
Post a Comment