What’s in Speaker Johnson’s Failed Christmas Omnibus?

It didn’t take long for the public to learn that Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s Congress planned to give itself a $6,000/year raise, as social media users found a mess of other gems hidden in the failed, 1,550-page “Christmas omnibus” package that went down in flames on Wednesday.

Johnson’s current efforts are now focused on keeping aid for farms and disaster victims while paring down the appropriations package to only the bare minimum needed to keep the government funded until President Donald Trump is inaugurated and the 119th Congress takes over.

Once the Christmas omnibus was released, social media users quickly identified numerous unacceptable provisions of the massive bill — some that Johnson and others had negotiated with Democrats, who took advantage of the Republican disarray to insist on several additions in exchange for their votes.  With such a tiny majority, it’s clear Republicans will need Democrat votes to continue funding the government past the December 20 deadline.

While some provisions are certainly things that America First voters favor, this is not the way to get those items passed into law! As Texas Republican Congressman Chip Roy says,

If you can’t shrink government, you can’t live free!

Look What’s in the Christmas Omnibus

Here’s a partial list of what got scrapped yesterday in that monstrosity of a Christmas omnibus:

• $100 billion for disaster aid (including $21 billion for farmers losing crops in disasters)
• $10 billion in direct financial funding for farmers
• Broadened restrictions on key Chinese technology industries
• $29 billion to FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund
• Delayed implementation of the Corporate Transparency Act until 2026
• Expanded Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness and Response Act, which allows the government to impost vaccine mandates/passports
• $250 million in emergency funds “to increase access to child care for working families”
• Seventeen new provisions of Commerce legislation
• $250 million for child care facilities damaged by natural disasters/temporary child care in certain areas
• Lawmakers can use the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program instead of being mandated to use Obamacare
• Removed language that blocked the 2025 automatic Congressional pay raise of roughly $6,000/year
• New measures to ensure transparency for concert ticket prices
• $2.2 billion for the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program
• language restricting U.S. capital investments in China
• Redefined the National Health Security Strategy, which could allow a national emergency based on climate change
• Extended for one year the (as yet not passed) Farm Bill that expired in September
• Allowed E15 ethanol to be sold year-round
• Renamed “offender” to “justice-involved individual”
• $25 million to protect the homes of Supreme Court Justices
• Full federal funding to rebuild the privately-owned Francis Scott Key toll Bridge
• $15 million for “more accessible” recycling / fighting compost fraud
• $100 million for migrant farm workers (a 5-year commitment)
• Retained 2022’s $5 billion electric school bus program through 2026
• Set up the Feral Swine Eradication program
• Continued the Wool Trust Fund until 2025
• Banned Oklahoma’s Grazinglands Research Laboratory from being declared excess federal property
• Assisted juvenile criminals with reinstating drivers’ licenses
• Renamed “homeless” to “individuals experiencing homelessness” and “homeless children” to “youth experiencing homelessness”
• Added congressional staffers to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program
• Excluded “vaccine injuries” from Title XXI (Social Security Act)
• Transferred control of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia
• Renamed Plano Texas outpatient VA Clinic to “U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson Memorial VA Clinic”
• Identified “locations and events” important “to music tourism and facilities” to “promote domestic travel and tourism to those locations and events”
• Transferred DC’s Air National Guard 121st Fighter Squadron into the Maryland Air National Guard
• Set up funds for “not fewer than 12 regional biocontainment laboratories” for gain of function research
• Extended the grant program for sheep marketing
• Gave Congress the legal freedom to avoid subpoenas of their electronic conversations
• Extended for two years the COVID-era implementation of telehealth in Medicare
• Funded for another year for Biden’s egregious Global Engagement Center (that spearheaded social media censorship of conservatives)
• Set consumer product safety standards for batteries for electric bikes and scooters
• $3 million to test the inspection of the molasses inspection program
• Criminalized deepfake pornography, forcing media platforms to remove such content
• Added flat fees and more restrictions on pharmacy benefit managers to discourage them from moving toward more expensive drugs

— snipped from Jesse Waters Primetime, December 18, 2024

Elizabeth Sotallaro

God’s child, Arkansas conservatarian
#TheMoreYouKnow