Several conservative Senate Republicans echoed the sentiments of most GOP voters over the Christmas holiday weekend. They hammered Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for paving the way for Democrats to steamroll the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill through Congress before Republicans retake control of the House in just a week.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) appeared on “The Cats Roundtable” on WABC Radio New York and said McConnell’s arrogance amounted to an outright betrayal of promises made to GOP voters.
Lee told host John Catsimitidas, “Our party leadership turned on Republican voters, turned on the Republican base, turned on most Republican senators.” The highly frustrated senator described the new spending spree signed into law by Joe Biden on Friday as “the ugliest spending bill on record.”
He noted that the last week sadly indicates “that voters don’t see much of a defining difference between Democrats” from Republicans. “It has happened before, but this is one too many times. For me, this is the final straw,” Lee added.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) also appeared with Catsimitides and described the Republican failure by saying, “To declare that a victory, to say that’s a win, that’s like a football team that just lost the game 60 to 0, and they kick a field goal in the waning seconds and say the field goal is a big win. No, we just got our you-know-whats handed to us.”
Johnson also said McConnell betrayed voters and added they could see exactly what happened as directly undermining the incoming House Republican majority. He said, “Unfortunately, the arrogance of our leadership who said, ‘We know better than House members. We’re going to pass this.’ I’m not buying it, and our supporters aren’t going to buy it either.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) tweeted on Thursday: “This reckless inflation bomb is a disaster for our economy and a slap in the face to Floridians struggling to make ends meet.”
I voted AGAINST the $1.7 TRILLION spending bill because I promised Florida families I'd fight every day to make Washington work for them.
This reckless inflation bomb is a disaster for our economy and a slap in the face to Floridians struggling to make ends meet. pic.twitter.com/Qnl0gJT2ke
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) December 22, 2022
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) posted a series of tweets on Friday as his annual “Festivus airing of grievances” that mocks the federal government’s wasteful spending on pork projects. The reference to the fictional holiday portrayed in the 1990s Seinfeld sitcom included specific references to many of the ridiculous projects included in the omnibus bill.
From steroid-injected hamsters to Pentagon espresso machines, Sen. Rand Paul debuts his annual 'Festivus Report' and the airing of grievances over 'government waste'
via https://t.co/1qECGfYLDi https://t.co/d6lShlXeDF— Changing It Up (@milvtx) December 24, 2022
In case you were wondering: yes, I’m airing a few of my grievances early. But don’t worry, I’ve got plenty more coming. pic.twitter.com/UPVLET1Y2a
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 21, 2022
Lamenting the failures of McConnell and establishment Republicans who voted along with him to allow the bill to pass, Paul added: “Ask yourself if the leadership of both parties is all that much different on spending or endless wars. From bloated bureaucracy to Ukraine aid, foreign aid to not funding our border security, it’s hard to tell the difference.”
