This bill (H.R. 1865) would provide approximately $540 billion in discretionary spending for eight of the 12 fiscal 2020 appropriations bills: $184.9 billion for Labor-HHS-Education; $23.5 billion for Agriculture; $48.3 billion for Energy-Water; $36 billion for Interior-Environment; $5 billion for Legislative Branch; $110.4 billion for Military Construction-VA; $54.7 billion for State-Foreign Operations; and $74.3 billion for Transportation-HUD. Hidden within the above, largely boring tabulations of appropriations are a few high-profile, unconstitutional programs, such as $96 billion for domestic food programs (think “food stamps”); tens of billions of dollars for foreign aid, UN membership, and UN peacekeeping; and $23.9 billion for HUD’s Section 8 rental assistance voucher program.
The Senate passed H.R. 1865 on December 19, 2019 by a vote of 71 to 23 (Roll Call 415). We have assigned pluses to the nays because most of the spending programs in this appropriations bill are unconstitutional, and on top of that, congressional spending for fiscal 2020 is grossly fiscally irresponsible. Currently our national debt is about $26 trillion, and the federal budget deficit for 2020 is expected to be an astounding $3.8 trillion.
