Twelve Republican senators and nine Republican House members joined with Democrats to pass next year’s 4,000 page 1.7 trillion dollar omnibus spending bill. This vote was particularly egregious because the Republicans would have been in charge of the budget with a majority in the House if passage could have been delayed for a couple of weeks. The budget could have then been considerably reduced through rejection of pork barrel spending. Democrats could have passed their bill without Republican help in the House this December, but they didn’t have enough votes in the senate to prevent a filibuster. The lack of ...