Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement by Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the Omnibus spending bill:

The Consolidated Appropriations Bill is a perfect example of haste making waste. The House Rules Committee is currently meeting to lay the groundwork for considering the 3,565 page omnibus containing $517 billion in spending tonight. The bill will have been available for less than 24 hours – so no member of Congress can honestly say that they will have read the bill before they vote tonight. Over the next several months, we are going to find all sorts of buried treasure for special interests littered throughout the bill. We’ve already found an early Christmas present for Big Energy, an expansion of the energy loan guarantee program, putting taxpayers on the hook to underwrite billions in risky loans, including $20 billion for the nuclear power industry and $8 billion for coal.  We also have found 8,983 earmarks worth $7.4 billion, and as we scrutinize the bill further, more will come to light.  When you add that to the 2,161 earmarks worth $7.9 billion already in the defense spending bill, you come up with 11,144 earmarks worth $15.3 billion. This represents a reduction over previous years: A good start for taxpayers, but Congress still has a long, long way to go before earmarks get to manageable levels.

The nation would be far better served if Congress slowed down and allowed the bill to be scrutinized, evaluated and vetted before moving forward. If Congress can’t slow down, they should pass a continuing resolution until January and pick up when they are less harried and cooler heads can prevail.