If Congress fails to pass a spending bill before Sunday, all non-essential portions of the federal government are effectively “shutdown.” Regardless, Newt Gingrich tells HUMAN EVENTS that Republicans must filibuster the Omnibus bill and not allow it to move in the Senate.
Republicans should offer to pass a “very clean, simple Continuing Resolution that keeps the government open.” The GOP shouldn’t budge, insists the former Speaker of the House. “This [past] election was in part over pork-barrel spending by earmarks” and the “Democrats are trying to behave as though the election didn’t occur.”
As reported by HUMAN EVENTS, Harry Reid’s Omnibus behemoth has 6,714 earmarks in it, totaling $8.3 billion, which would fund “pork” projects including the production of virus-free wine grapes, the monitoring of aquatic invasive species in the Columbia River Basin, the building solar parking canopies, and the harvesting of salmon.
Newt also favors the tax “compromise” arranged by Obama and GOP leaders, arguing that it's a necessary bridge to avoid further economic malaise.
“If taxes go up on Jan. 1, you’re going to have an enormous mess in this country, and we’re already at 9.8 percent unemployment. . . .
“Nobody should believe that a two-year extension of the current tax code is a stimulus. It’s a catastrophe avoidance; it’s a disaster avoidance, but it’s not a stimulus. In order to get this economy growing again, we need substantially more real permanent tax cuts that incentivize manufacturing, incentivize investment, [and] incentivize small business. Give people who create jobs a reason to go back out and create jobs.”
