Imagine being given an assignment at 2:30 a.m. that includes over 1,000 pages of reading material – and then told it had to be completed in only a matter of a few hours.
Unreasonable, unfair, and maybe even outrageous, don’t you think?
That’s what happened late last month when rank and file members of Congress were presented with the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024” – a massive $1.2 trillion spending bill that will fund the government through September 30.
Gigantic bills that authorize the expenditure of millions, billions, and now trillions of dollars have become the norm. Not only that, but the majority of our elected leaders have also grown comfortable signing off on spending bills that put the nation deeper and deeper into debt.
It hasn’t always been the case.
While the United States began in debt thanks to assuming the state debt from the American Revolution, there was a healthy concern that it should be kept to a minimum.
Any debt, argued Alexander Hamilton in 1790, should “be remoulded into such a shape as will bring the expenditure of the nation to a level with its income.” By 1793, the fledgling nation enjoyed its first surplus.
“There is not a more important and fundamental principle in legislation,” James Madison observed, “than that the ways and means ought always to face the public engagements; that our appropriations should ever go hand in hand with our promises.”
Simply put, the country should live within its means.
Safe to say that both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison would be appalled at not only the normalization of deficit spending – but what the government is spending our tax dollars on in the first place.
We now know that Congress approved $1.8 million for the “Women and Infants Hospital” in Providence, Rhode Island – the only facility in the state other than Planned Parenthood that performs first-and-second term abortions. “Dartmouth-Hitchcock,” a similar facility in New Hampshire, received $650,000.
Millions of dollars were earmarked for facilities that provide trans-related services, including $400,000 for the Briarpatch Youth Services in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, that pledges to conceal from parents any children they see who express sexual confusion. An LGBT group that specializes in serving illegal immigrants in Washington state was granted $706,000. They claim to devote their energies and efforts to reducing “transphobia” and are advertising an upcoming “Drag Brunch.”
The spending bill includes $10 billion for “global health initiatives” that includes renewed funding for the “US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief” (PEPFAR), which was established to help improve maternal and child health. Of late, the fungible fund has been funneling dollars for overseas abortions.
To be fair, not all the spending is bad. It never is. Our brave military can’t survive and thrive on courage alone. But even our Armed Forces have been hijacked by “woke” idealogues committed to reimagining the uniformed services so many have lauded and revered for so long.
But when wickedness and waste are identified in one area, it raises the probability that it exists in others.
Many have asked and been understandably frustrated how these awful and outrageous budgets keep getting proposed and passed despite seemingly socially conservative majorities. It’s a fair question. The trouble lies in the increasingly narrow majority – and the politics and consequences of shutdowns. That said, vocal and principled minorities have stood up and spoken out – only to lose in the end. Noble opposition may not always prevail, but honorable objection still deserves to be lauded and applauded.
With Congress now on a two-week recess and the spending bills signed and finalized, it’s understandable to be discouraged with the unlikely prospect we’ll see any change anytime soon. But the context of Easter Monday should provide us with hope that we can remain confident amid the chaos of government dysfunction.
“When you go through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which you lay your head,” preached Charles Spurgeon. Let’s just not rest on the softness too soon – and certainly not when we should be culturally engaged and giving our best to hold back the evil and wickedness of our day.
Image from Shutterstock.
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