Bice lazily votes to shut down the U.S. gov and destabilize Europe

Last Updated on August 6, 2023, 2:51 AM | Published: December 28, 2022

For most Oklahomans, keeping a job requires actually doing the job. On Dec. 23, when the U.S. House of Representatives held its vote on the $1.7 billion omnibus bill that would fund the federal government including the military, Congresswoman Stephanie Bice (Oklahoma CD-5) chose not to read the bill and essentially voted for a government shutdown. 

“Instead of working in regular order, Democrats in Congress have sat on their hands, waiting until the last week before Christmas to ram through a massive, 4,155-page government spending bill,” Bice’s office said in a released statement. “With ongoing inflation, now is not the time to drastically increase domestic spending. To make matters worse, this legislation fails to address the numerous issues facing the American people, including the crisis at the southern border. I voted no and strongly oppose this legislation.”

The 2022 omnibus bill, like past bills, focused on 12 key areas for appropriation. These include agriculture and related agencies; commerce, justice and science; defense, energy, water and related agencies; financial services and general government, homeland security; interior, environment and related agencies; labor, health and human services and education; the legislative branch, military construction and veterans’ affairs, state and foreign operations; and transportation, housing and urban development and associated agencies. 

Also, she complains about inflation. Agreed – I’m not a big fan. But the only time in recent years that the U.S. experienced actual deflation was during the Great Recession. In short, waiting for an end to “ongoing inflation” is generally a long and unhappy wait. 

So, Bice is lying except for the parts about dates and page numbers, and that just makes Bice look lazy. No one told Bice she could have the week off before Christmas to go home, drink local beers and pretend that she did something to get reelected to her district. If it happens while Congress is in session, then reading bills is her job.

She voted on several bills that week, including a “yea” vote for SB 2333 requiring equal payment for Team USA athletes regardless of gender. 

What Bice is clearly against is transparency in government.

In addition to her “nay” vote on the omnibus bill, she also voted against HR 1529 to require the release and examination of tax returns for presidential candidates, and HR 9640, which requires expeditious examination and public release of presidential tax records as they are filed. 

Why would anyone vote against such bills if not to give cover to white-collar criminals who want to be or manage to become President of the United States? If Bice had her way (she did not; both pieces of legislation passed), Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Elon Musk or anyone else wanting the Republican nomination could take money from anybody and not have to reveal the source. 

Also, Bice is being disingenuous about her party’s pet whine, the Southern border. She voted against raising the budget for Homeland Security by $3.2 billion. 

Now, keep in mind that every time Homeland Security interdicts fentanyl or another controlled substance at the border, Republicans treat it like a failure, even though the drugs were stopped from entering the country and its street-drug economy. They act as if the fact that criminals attempted a crime is a failure on the part of law enforcement.

If a bank robbery or an active shooter incident is successfully thwarted through police intervention, no one blames the cops for the attempted crime, but that is just what Bice and her Republican colleagues are doing with the Southern border. It is a gigantic misrepresentation of some real success stories, and this strategy is being replicated throughout the Republican Party, from the pain-in-the-ass back-benchers like Bice to wannabe Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. 

But Bice’s biggest mistake in voting against the omnibus bill was her betrayal of democracy. 

By voting to deny an additional $45 billion in military aid to Ukraine, Bice sided with Vladimir Putin against Ukraine and efforts to secure peace, freedom and prosperity in Europe, which has ripple effects throughout the U.S. economy and security apparatus. 

It was nearly as disrespectful and aggressively anti-American as Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene playing with their phones while Volodymyr Zelenskyy – a patriot to his nation, a war hero and a strong U.S. ally — spoke to a joint session of Congress. 

Bice sided against Western democracies with her vote against the omnibus bill, but just as importantly, she sided against you. She voted in favor of government shutdown — the near-complete cessation of the people’s business — to try to embarrass President Joe Biden. Instead, she and the rest of the do-nothing Republican delegation from this state embarrassed Oklahoma.

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