The following is TCS president Steve Ellis’ statement on the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus spending bill: 

“While we’re pleased that it does not appear that there will be lump of coal government shutdown in taxpayer’s stockings this year, this $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill is stuffed with extra funding and provisions trying catch a ride on the last train leaving the Capitol Hill station.

Hardly anyone outside of top leadership has seen the package that extends for more than 6,800 pages. Nevertheless, lawmakers will be voting on it in just a few days to avoid a shutdown. Even then, agencies across government will have been operating at last year’s funding levels for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023. Not the way to run the legislative railroad.

The defense portion is stuffed with goodies that weren’t in the Pentagon budget request. It seems the compromise position was to take everything the House or Senate wanted. There’s extra disaster spending that should be scrutinized as well.

While it is good to clear the decks before the 118^th Congress is sworn in, this is a package that could have been released, debated, and evaluated a month ago.”