House conservatives won’t pass Omnibust without a fight

Don’t expect conservatives in Congress to swallow the bipartisan $1 trillion spending bill, which is funding all of former President Obama’s priorities, without a fight, says Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Jordan, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said Monday he expects “lots of conservatives” to oppose the bill as written.

"Money goes to Planned Parenthood […] Money continues to go to sanctuary cities, but no money for the border wall," Jordan explained on CNN's "New Day."

.@Jim_Jordan of Freedom Caucus on spending deal: "You are going to see a lot of conservatives be against this plan" https://t.co/nhfhOBvgnQ

— New Day (@NewDay) May 1, 2017

"I think you're going to see a lot of conservatives be against this plan this week."

By threatening a government shutdown, Democrats in the minority pressured the GOP to remove 160 conservative agenda items from the spending bill. They assented to the liberal demands without a fight. Rep. Jordan questioned why Republican leaders passed a short-term spending bill in the first place last fall “if we weren't going to actually fight for the things we told the voters we were going to fight for."

Jordan’s discontent has been matched by other House conservatives on social media. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., blasted the omnibus as “another deal to grow the government.”

Another deal to grow government. Instead of compromising to cut spending, each side agrees to let the other side spend more. https://t.co/kezjj7LSkv

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 1, 2017

Instead of defending status quo, GOP should be defending Constitution, Rule of Law, federalism, free speech/markets, responsible budgeting.

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 1, 2017

Representative Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a Freedom Caucus ally but not a member himself, offered up criticism for the process behind the omnibust legislation.

If we would pass 12 separate funding bills as the law prescribes, then at most only 1/12th of government spending would be jeopardized.

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 1, 2017

But then again, that wouldn't create a crisis big enough to get everyone to vote for everything in one bad bill. #sassywithmassie https://t.co/YbROZaCF6B

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 1, 2017

But Congressman Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., had the most heated words in a Facebook post, describing the spending deal as “unbelievable,” and saying Democrats have successfully done “what Speaker John Boehner refused to do in 2011 – stand FIRM in the negotiations on government funding and debt for the principals and promises we (GOP) made to the American people.”

“Now - Schumer and Company have a liberal press (MSM) to support them if they stand firm and threaten a government shutdown - the GOP didn't,” Duncan wrote. “But we do have the White House and its ‘Bully Pulpit.’"

“But when Republicans (moderates) hide from the shadow of a government shutdown and fail to stand firm, when we have House, Senate and the White House, to defund the murder and dismemberment of babies in the womb, fund border security and defund cities which are in direct violation of Federal Immigration laws, well we get crap like this latest CR - government funding ‘Deal.’”

Though many conservatives will likely oppose this omnibust deal, moderate Republicans will betray their campaign promises once again and join with Democrats and pass it.

At this point, the only way to stop the bill is President Trump’s veto power. Now, the American people will see if the president was serious when he said he would go to Washington, D.C., and fight the big government establishment of both parties.

Will President Trump veto the omnibus spending bill and demand a bill that funds the border wall, defunds Planned Parenthood, defunds sanctuary cities as he promised? Or will Trump sign a $1 trillion deficit spending bill into law, funding Democrat priorities (like every other establishment Republican president who has come before him)?