PPI’s Ben Ritz, Director of the Center for Funding America’s Future, released the following statement about the omnibus spending package:
Once again, Congress has waited until the last minute to carry out its most basic responsibility: funding the federal government’s normal operations. Thanks to a combination of brinkmanship and procrastination by leaders on both sides of the aisle, lawmakers will soon be forced to choose between voting for roughly $1.7 trillion of spending with little time to review legislative text or shutting down the government. This is no way to run a country.
The omnibus appropriations bill increases federal discretionary spending next year at a rate faster than overall economic growth. Boosting fiscal stimulus is exactly what lawmakers should not be doing with inflation still running at over 7%. Instead, Congress should be pursuing a fiscal policy that supports the Federal Reserve’s efforts to rein in rising prices.
It’s disappointing that, despite the increase in overall spending levels, it appears appropriators have failed to fund federal R&D efforts at the targets authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act passed earlier this year. The omission of much-needed permitting reforms also will reduce the efficacy of infrastructure investments Congress passed earlier this session. Together, these decisions represent a setback for the restoration of bold public investment that this Congress had been on track to accomplish.
But the package could have been worse. With the exception of some retirement provisions that are offset by gimmicks, the omnibus is mostly free of deficit-financed tax cuts that usually ride on end-of-the-year packages such as this. Although it would have been best for negotiators to agree on a fiscally responsible compromise to restore the pre-2022 tax treatment of R&D expenses and some expansion of the Child Tax Credit, their decision to omit these policies rather than to further fuel inflation by borrowing to pay for them was the right one.
It’s also good news that the omnibus will strengthen democracy at home and abroad through improvements to the Electoral Count Act and additional military assistance to help the Ukrainian people stand up to Russia’s brutal war of conquest.
Perhaps the next Congress could notch another win for democracy by following a rational and transparent budget process next time around. That shouldn’t be too much to ask of America’s elected representatives.
