Fiscal 2003 Omnibus Appropriations. The final version (conference report) of House Joint Resolution 2 would provide $397 billion in fiscal 2003 for all Cabinet departments and government agencies covered in 11 unfinished spending bills from the 107th Congress. The bills included are: Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-State, District of Columbia, Energy and Water Development, Foreign Operations, Interior, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch, Transportation, Treasury-Postal Service, and VA-HUD. The problem with the omnibus approach is that thousands of unconstitutional activities are lumped together with legitimate legislation in one massive bill. Thus, big government is perpetuated with a minimum of accountability.
The Senate adopted the conference report on H. J. Res. 2 on February 13, 2003 by a vote of 76 to 20 (Roll Call 34). We have assigned pluses to the nays because this bill perpetuates huge amounts of unconstitutional federal spending.
