Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif) said the omnibus legislation “includes several controversial policy items that have not been properly scrutinized or debated by Congress.” House passes $410 billion spending bill

The House has passed a $410 billion spending package on a largely party line vote, sending the delayed appropriations package to the Senate despite Republican complaints about having no say in crafting the legislation.

The vote was 245-178, with 20 Democrats voting “no” while 16 Republicans voted in favor of the bill. The great majority of Republicans voted against the spending package in a continued show of party unity after the GOP rallied en masse against the $787 billions stimulus that was signed into law last week.


Covering more than a dozen Cabinet departments, the omnibus spending bill adds another $20.5 billion to last year’s domestic spending requests for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Overall, the 2009 spending bills represent a 6.7 percent increase over 2008.

Republicans complained about both earmarks and the fact that they had little influence in crafting the legislation.

“The omnibus legislation also includes several controversial policy items that have not been properly scrutinized or debated by Congress or the public,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee. “In fact, the vast majority of members of Congress have little – if any – opportunity to shape this legislation. The bill was released for viewing on Monday, did not go through Committee, and was brought to the House floor under a procedure that prohibited amendments.”

Watchdog groups like Taxpayers for Common Sense have also pointed out more than 8,500 earmarks – for both Republicans and Democrats – in the omnibus.

But beyond the raw numbers, the package has some real policy changes that signal a break from the Bush administration, including loosening travel rules to Cuba, overturning limits on certain family planning funds in foreign aid, prohibiting Mexican-licensed trucks from operating outside of commercial border zones and changing D.C. charter school policy.

The spending bill will also freeze congressional salaries, which will be $174,000 for 2009.