EDITORIAL: Congress deserves coal for passing bloated budget bill

Our leaders in Washington — Speaker of the House John Boehner chief among them — are painting the rushed omnibus spending bill as an act of responsible governance. In reality, the monstrosity is yet another testament to congressional irresponsibility.

The $1.1 trillion bill, which blends the standard, government-funding omnibus bill and the continuing resolution used when Congress can’t agree on government funding, was designed to prevent another government shutdown by funding Washington through September. Rep. Boehner, R-Ohio, had promised to allow members 72 hours to read the 1,695-page bill. But he reneged and muscled its immediate passage. So a bill that pretty much nobody read was passed and signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Sound familiar? Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., took the same approach with the Affordable Care Act. “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it,” she famously said. Rep. Boehner and other Republicans justifiably blasted her for it, and voters responded by returning the House to GOP control in 2010.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

So, what’s inside CRomnibus? According to the brave folks at the American Spectator, who actually took the time to read the bloated bill, a lot of provisions that should have stood alone. Everyone across the spectrum can find policies to love and hate:

— Insurers will not receive any taxpayer funds to offset Obamacare losses, and the IRS will face a $346 million budget cut.

— First lady Michelle Obama’s healthy school lunch standards, which have put tons of expensive food into landfills, were turned back, as was her husband’s request for $3 billion for the United Nations to help poor countries fight climate change.

— Those who depend on access to federal land won’t have to worry about a sage grouse listing for a year, bovine flatulence will remain unregulated as a greenhouse gas, and ponds and irrigation trenches won’t have to comply with the Clear Water Act.

— Political parties and committees can now receive more in donations, while the Dodd-Frank provision calling for bank holding companies to hold 5 percent of risky “derivative” investments out of FDIC-insured operations has been repealed.

— President Obama’s “EbolaCare” programs will receive $5.5 billion, which is more than our country spends on cancer research and five times what the World Health Organization says is needed. Roughly 90 percent of the funds will go to Africa, with no safeguards to prevent its misuse.

Sure, keeping our government up and running ensures that Americans can continue to enjoy our national parks — which, as we know, are always the first things to close during shutdowns — but there is otherwise little to cheer about here. When Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., both hate a bill, you know something is wrong.

This is a special-interest bonanza. The American people deserved an extended debate about CRomnibus, a debate that didn’t happen because lawmakers were too busy with other nonsense — especially campaigning — to conduct a responsible budgeting process. It’s one more example of why both parties share the blame in continuing to grow the federal government and the federal debt.

Santa should give lawmakers a lump of coal this Christmas.