By Ray Cardello for March 14, 2022 Season 9 / Post 27

These people cannot help themselves. It is not their money, so what is the problem? They are spending more than we have and more than we will make. So what? It is not theirs, and it isn’t even real. When you are talking trillions of dollars, it is just a game. Nothing is real.

We do not have a revenue problem in this country. We have a spending problem. Politicians work their butts off to get into Congress, and they spend our money to bring pet products back to their district. This play is a study in job preservation. Members of Congress are not measured by how they represent us but on what they do to grease the palms of their constituents. It has been this way for years. Years ago, these political hacks were dealing in billions. They have upped their game, and now it is trillions. Like a crack addict, nothing solves the craving.

This past week, Congress passed a $1.5 Trillion omnibus spending bill. Omnibus means a collection of bills. I am not sure that omnibus is a strong enough word to cover the 4,000 individual spending bills submitted by 535 Representatives and Senators. They barter our money on pet projects in their districts or states. To them, these projects equate to votes, the lifeblood of their existence.

Members from both parties voted for this pork-filled, bloated bill citing the need to support the humanitarian crisis caused by Putin when he invaded a sovereign neighboring country. Isn’t that so noble of them?

Of the $1.5 trillion, aid to Ukraine is a paltry $13.6 billion, or 6.4%. That is not noble but shallow, and since it is our money, probably criminal.

Let’s look at a few of the other bills of note:

• $20 billion for Climate Resiliency Programs
• $1.45 billion for Southern Border Response
• None of this is for security but additional housing and more efficient processing of the illegal crossers
• $17.2 billion for child care 
• $726 billion for defense
• $9.7 billion for 5K pet projects, including
• $500K lobster pots
• $600k greenhouses in NYC
• $1.6M equitable growth of shellfish in RI

This bill contains more than 2,700 pages but passed within 24 hours of being printed. Five hundred thirty-five members, plus their staffs, are either speed readers or complicit in passing this bill quickly before it could attract enough attention to pose a problem with the passage. Thanks to the distraction of war in Europe, few are paying attention to a boatload of our money wasted to secure tenure for Congress.

This bill is a clear example of many of the reasons we, the people, need to reel in the Federal Government.

• Term Limits-many of these people in Congress have made it their life’s work. Chuck Schumer, who may face a primary challenge from AOC, has 141 earmarks in the spending bill. These political careers need to be controlled 
• Fiscal Restraint-we do not have $1.5T to spend on Pork and left to their own devices, Congress will spend us into a recession. A Balanced Budget Amendment is the only way to stop this lunacy.
• Government Overreach-earmarks are not needed projects but Congressional payback for votes. Earmarks had stopped, but the Democrats brought them back, and both parties are abusing them.

The Convention of States and the use of Article V in the Constitution is the only way to solve big government. The people, and the states, have to take control. You can help by going to cosaction.com to sign the petition and volunteering to help. We can save this country and counter the efforts of big government to bring it down.