House conservatives balk at the word “minibus” being used to describe the $1.2 trillion government funding bill that Congressional leaders announced early Thursday morning.
“Isn’t it too mini?” Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hahn (R-Okla.) told Fox News Digital. “The ‘Mini’ of today is very different from the ‘Mini’ of five years ago. . . . It’s certainly smaller than an omnibus.”
“Minibus” is a colloquial term on Capitol Hill for a spending package that combines several of Congress’s 12 annual government spending bills. This comes from the term “omnibus,” which is used when all 12 bills are combined into one large spending package and include unrelated priorities.
Johnson floats plan to support Israel after Schumer’s comments make situation ‘even more urgent’
Congressman Chip Roy denounced the deal as a “swamp omnibus.” (Getty Images)
The “omnibus” spending bill is opposed by most Republicans and some Democrats, saying it is too broad and lacks the transparency found in smaller funding packages. That’s why Congressional leaders have flaunted victory by splitting them into two packages of six and eliminating most unrelated priorities from those packages.
The first package, worth about $460 billion, passed the House and Senate earlier this month. But opponents of the bipartisan agreement argue that the entire agreement is simply an omnibus in two halves.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, agreed when asked whether the term “minibus” was misleading.
House passes $460 billion government funding bill over pushback from hard-line Republicans
Andy Biggs MP said the term “minibus” was misleading. (Getty Images)
“Glue it together with the last shoe and you’ve got an omnibus. Last week the first shoe of the omnibus fell off. This is the second shoe that fell this week,” Biggs told FOX News Digital.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) doesn’t typically refer to the deal as a “minibus,” but instead typically refers to it as a spending agreement or appropriations process. But the term is widely used by lawmakers and the media, even though the policy accounts for about 70% of the federal government’s discretionary spending.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) posted several times on Company X, calling the deal a “swamp omnibus” and an “embarrassment.”
Congressional leaders strike short-term deal to avoid government shutdown
House Republican leaders celebrated breaking the “omnibus” trend in spending bills. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The $1.2 trillion spending bill includes funding for Defense, Homeland Security, Education, the Legislature and more.
“It doesn’t matter what you call it. … If you have a bad process, you end up with a bad product. And that’s what we experienced,” said Matt Rosendale, Republican of Mont. the congressman told FOX News Digital. .
