WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today released the following statement on the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus funding bill:
“This process is everything that’s wrong with Washington. Democrats have made such a mockery of how our government ought to function that the Appropriations Committee—which is charged with generating these bills—didn’t meet a single time this year to consider or amend them. Instead, in what has become a regrettable yet unsurprising tradition, after it was negotiated behind closed doors, Senator Schumer unveiled this 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion bill in the middle of the night, right before Christmas. In my view, the new Republican House majority taking office in a few days deserved a seat at the table.
“This legislation also falls short of addressing the host of crises that all-Democrat government control has unleashed on the American people, from inflation to record-breaking illegal immigration. Shockingly, the special $1.9 billion that the bill provides for ‘border management’ cannot be used on border security at all—instead, these funds must be spent on resettling migrants across the country, including in Tennessee. The bill completely ignores the imminent expiration of Title 42 authority. This bill falls far short of what the American people deserve. I cannot support it.”
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