Rand Paul Destroys the ‘Rotten Crumb-Nibus’ $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill

(ANTIMEDIA) — On Thursday, the House went on a $1.3 trillion spending spree and passed an omnibus package that will fund the government through October. Although the agreement was reached six months late, the legislation passed easily by a margin of 256-167, with 145 Republicans and 111 Democrats voting in favor and 90 Republicans and 77 Democrats […]

Majority of $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill Goes to US Military

(ANTIWAR.COM) — The last minute signing of the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill in the US is a big windfall for the Pentagon, who will be getting the majority of the money, in the realm of $700 billion. This includes 14 new ships, 28 new helicopters, and 56 of the costly F-35 warplanes. This $700 billion does not […]

After Increasing Nat’l Debt a TRILLION in 6 Months, US Gov’t Just Gave Themselves a Massive Raise

Only hours after receiving a massive 2,200 page, $1.3 trillion dollar spending bill, both the House and the Senate voted to pass it without having any time to read it. Why? Because it gives them all raises.

The post After Increasing Nat’l Debt a TRILLION in 6 Months, US Gov’t Just Gave Themselves a Massive Raise appeared first on The Free Thought Project.

Betrayal: How the REPUBLICANS Are Gutting the Second Amendment

This article was originally published by Daisy Luther at The Organic Prepper

Everyone likes to blame the Democrats for gun control, but here’s a news flash: those of us who fervently believe in the Second Amendment are actually being betrayed by members of the Republican party who are in Congress right now. Bills on the table right now would gut our right to bear arms, and the Congress is controlled by Republicans.

The spending bill that Congress hopes to pass is more than 2200 pages, according to Senator Rand Paul, who was outraged at being given less than a day to read the entire bill. Senator Paul live-tweeted his reading of the bill last night, and it’s a pretty safe bet that nobody else in Congress spent the evening reading it before they vote today.

Shame, shame. A pox on both Houses – and parties. $1.3 trillion. Busts budget caps. 2200 pages, with just hours to try to read it.

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Well here it is, all 2,232 budget-busting pages. The House already started votes on it. The Senate is expected to soon. No one has read it. Congress is broken… pic.twitter.com/izvJlUEgUM

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

How the spending bill affects our Second Amendment rights

In this budget bill are some insidious things that affect our Second Amendment rights.

The bill revives an Obama-era restriction on firearms for senior citizens.

Just before President Obama left office, his administration finalized new regulations banning Social Security recipients from buying a gun if they have trouble managing their finances.

Using the Congressional Review Act, Republicans and two Democrats passed a bill overturning the regulation. But the bill did more than that. It also prevents any future president from reinstituting the ban without new legislative authorization from Congress.

Unfortunately, the spending bill passed Thursday allows the ban to be reinstituted because it reauthorizes the 2007 National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Amendments Act. This act allowed government agencies, not just the courts, to determine if someone is mentally incompetent to buy or possess a gun.

House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said during testimony late Wednesday that he was “disturbed” that the bill would undo part of Republicans’ good work. But by Thursday morning, the House leadership had decided to go ahead with the measure. (source)

And that’s not all.

The bill funnels $50 million dollars into strict anti-gun organizations, namely the STOP School Violence Act, designed by the Sandy Hook Promise, which advocates extreme gun control.

At the same time, the bill forbids the use of federal money for arming and training school staff. That’s right – our tax dollars will be put to work against us. And representatives that are supposed to be pro-gun are allowing it to happen.

Finally, the bill will authorize the CDC to research “gun violence.” But the CDC has been allowed to research this for years, despite what you see to the contrary from the MSM. In 1996, the Dickey provision prohibited the CDC from using government funds to advocate or promote gun control.” There is no such provision in the current bill.

It isn’t just Democrats who are passing this bill.

This bill has passed the House by a vote of 256-167. The breakdown in the House of Representatives is 238 Republicans and 192 Democrats. If the Republicans were truly looking after our gun rights, as they like to advertise, this bill wouldn’t have passed the House.

Today it will be going before the Senate, where 60 votes will be needed to pass it. The Senate has 51 Republicans and 47 Democrats, which means that if it passes, the “pro-gun” Republicans have betrayed their constituents yet again.

Here’s what happens next:

Thursday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved to end debate on the bill, triggering a 30-hour window senators can use to discuss it.

The debate time could be shortened if Paul and other senators unanimously agree to do so but it was unclear how far Paul would go to press his point.

If the whole 30-hour time is used, the earliest the Senate could vote to advance the so-called “omnibus” bill would be 1 a.m. Saturday morning.

The Senate would then have to wait even longer before taking any final vote to pass it. (source)

If (when) this revolting turn of events occurs and the bill is passed by the Senate, the President will most likely sign it according to White House budget director Mick Mulvaney.

“In order to get the defense spending primarily, (and) all the rest of our priorities funded, we had to give away a lot of stuff that we didn’t want to give away,” Mulvaney said. (source)

And that’s not all.

The spending in this bill is truly obscene. You’d think an American budget would be focused on American interests, right?

Senator Paul tweeted these highlights lowlights.

o $5m for Vietnam Education Foundation Grants
o $2.579m for Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe
o $15m to USAID for promoting international higher education between universities
o $2.696bn for International Disaster Assistance

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

o $1m for the World Meteorological Organization
o $218m for Promoting Democracy Development in Europe (yep..the birthplace of democracy needs promoting)
o $25m for International Religious Freedom
o $10m for disadvantaged Egyptian Students

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

o $12m for Scholarships for Lebanon
o $20m for Middle East Partnership Initiative Scholarship Program
o $12m in military funding for Vietnam
o $3.5m in nutrition assistance to Laos
o $15m in Developmental assistance to China
o $10m for Women LEOs in Afghanistan

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Seriously.

If you voted Republican to protect your 2A rights, you were betrayed.

The long and the short of this?

• Who you vote for doesn’t matter.


• Having more Republicans than Democrats in Congress doesn’t matter.


• Our system is broken, and what you think about it doesn’t matter.

As long as our government passes bills with thousands of pages instead of single item bills, the public will continue to be betrayed and deceived. Those who believe that voting Republican will ensure their continued right to protect themselves have been deceived and until we refuse to keep putting these people in office who are there to serve themselves, not their constituencies, we will continue losing our rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.

How is voting for the “lesser of two evils” working out for you?

What if we opted not to put any kind of evil in office, not just the lesser one? What if we opted to put the best of our country in positions of power, not just the less horrible of our country?

When are we going to say that we’ve had enough? At the rate we’re going, probably when it’s already too late and our corrupt system has enslaved us to the point that rebellion is futile.

The mainstream media is acting like Senator Rand Paul is a lunatic who is determined to shut down the government, but in reality, Senator Paul seems to be one of the only people in Washington DC who performing his due diligence.

Write to your local Senators and call their offices. (Find the contact info here.) Demand that they vote no on this spending bill.  We have to stop passing policies that haven’t even been read by those voting on them. Lawmaking should not be a game of “Let’s Make a Deal.”

Government shutdowns have happened before and they’re mostly theater. We’ve been perfectly fine without them.

Live: Rand Paul Is on Twitter Exposing ‘Rotten’ $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill

(ANTIMEDIA) — On Thursday, the House went on a $1.3 trillion spending spree and passed an omnibus package that will fund the government through October. Although the agreement was reached six months late, the legislation passed easily by a margin of 256-167, with 145 Republicans and 111 Democrats voting in favor and 90 Republicans and 77 Democrats […]

House Passes $578 Billion Military Spending Bill

(ANTIWAR) The House of Representatives today voted 371-48, with massive majorities in both parties, in favor of another $578 billion military spending bill to cover the remainder of fiscal year 2017. The bill now moves on to the Senate, where it again is expected to easily pass.

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The exact meaning of the figures is a little difficult to understand this time around, because Congress had already passed a military spending bill for fiscal year 2017 back in December, which was $611 billion. That bill was only ever intended to be a fraction of what was to be spent, aiming to give way to a second “emergency” bill before April, which is today’s bill, which would cover the rest of the year. That said, there is a lot of overlap between the two and the overall budget is not just a matter of adding the two together.

Indeed, the $578 billion one voted on today probably will be bigger by the time it gets signed, with President Trump seeking to add another $30 billion, which is meant to be a first step toward what he promises will be a 9% increase in spending in fiscal year 2018.

The new bill intends $516 billion for “basic” military requirements, which is more than double any other nation on the planet’s spending, and also includes about $62 billion in additional spending for America’s assorted wars and occupations.

The only potential obstacle in the Senate is from the usual hawks like Sens. Lindsey Graham (R – SC) and John McCain (R – AZ), for whom any military budget, no matter how substantial its growth, is much too small, and doesn’t include nearly enough new wars to appear sufficiently patriotic.

By Jason Ditz / Republished with permission / AntiWar.com / Report a typo