Washington, D.C.–Congressman Paul Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) issued the following statement after voting against H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022.
“I could not in good conscience vote in favor of a bill that is 2,700 pages long, spends a massive $1.5 trillion and was written behind closed doors and delivered to Congress for consideration at 1:30 AM in the morning. Less than a day has been made available for any member to “read” this bill, and it is physically impossible to do so in the time allotted.
No one, literally not one single member of congress has read through the entirety of this enormous legislation before voting for it. There have been no hearings, markups or robust debates. There are no amendments allowed. This is exceptionally poor process and Americans deserve better.
Americans are not fooled by these actions and are fed up with Congress’ inability to constrain run-away spending. We are more than five months into Fiscal Year 2022 and the liberals who run Congress still cannot get their act together.
This spending package increases non-defense discretionary spending by 7% and finances it with more deficit spending. It also includes over $4 billion in earmarks chosen by Democrats but not allowed for Republicans, and it includes funds for the murderous Planned Parenthood. The bill subsidizes the Biden administration’s radical green energy policies and increases the annual budget for the Internal Revenue Service by a whopping $12.6 billion just so they can further harass taxpayers.
Congress should be looking at ways to reduce spending rather than add to our $30 trillion national debt and advancing Leftist policies.
Finally, let me say this. There are dozens of programs I support in this bill. But with no time allowed to review the entirety, and no amendments or debate allowed, I am precluded from fighting for the good part of this bill while getting the nonsense cut. For that reason, I am left with no real choice but to vote against this bill as currently presented,” concluded Congressman Gosar.
