Sunshine Sentinel

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In case you missed it, Senator Rick Scott wrote an op-ed for The Hill ahead of the government funding deadline, slamming Senate leadership for having no clear plan to fund the government after four months of prioritizing funding the government of Ukraine over the government of the United States. Senator Scott is urging Senate and House Republicans to reject another massive omnibus spending bill full of earmarks and embrace a clean, full-year Continuing Resolution (CR). 

In the op-ed, Senator Rick Scott wrote, “Over the last four months, the United States Senate has spent more time crafting a bill to fund the government of Ukraine than it has to fund the government of the United States.

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To keep the government open and avoid another massive omnibus spending bill, like the $1.7 trillion bill with more than 7,500 reckless earmarks that was jammed down our throats without any time for amendments or scrutiny in December of 2022, Senate and House Republicans must embrace a clean, full-year Continuing Resolution (CR). That would prevent Congress adding more reckless spending and digging us deeper in debt. 

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I am not a fan of CRs. I think CRs are a terrible way to govern which is why I have fought since I got elected in 2018 to pass the No Budget, No Pay Act. 

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Last October, I led several Senators on a letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, urging him to prioritize appropriations measures on the Senate floor so we could finally have a process that allowed us to cut reckless spending and put us on a path toward fiscal sanity. Sadly, Schumer ignored our requests.

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It is clear that Schumer and McConnell have no interest in allowing representative government to work and instead only want the backroom deals that they craft to move forward. Both men were so obsessed with funding Ukraine’s government that they forgot to fund the government they actually work for, leaving us with no time and no plan. 

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I don’t know anyone that wants to see a government shutdown. I certainly don’t, which is why I have fought alongside Senator Ron Johnson to pass our bipartisan Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, to take shutdowns off the table and force Congress to work until its job of funding the government is complete. Since that has not become law either and we will face a potential shutdown just days from now, we have two choices. We can either pass a clean, full-year CR or allow leadership to force yet another massive, wasteful omnibus bill through the process.  

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Since 2019, the U.S. population has increased just 1.8% but our federal budget is set to increase by 55%. That’s why the federal debt is nearly $35 trillion and rising every day. All of this debt has fueled a raging inflation crisis, pushing prices 17.9% higher today than they were when President Biden took office. 

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We are nearly six months into Fiscal Year 2024 and it’s clear that we need to leave behind any plans there may have been to pass all 12 appropriations bills for this year and move forward with crafting, debating, amending and passing the Fiscal Year 2025 spending bills that will need to be approved by both chambers before September 30. 

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Passing a clean, full-year CR will give Congress the time it needs to get that job done.”

Original source can be found here.