U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is the kind of guy who isn’t shy about telling others what’s on his mind.
So, Wednesday—after Congress approved a “continuing resolution” that more or less maintained the out-of-control status quo spending levels, the conservative stalwart unloaded. For 12 minutes.
Referring to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Lee said in a Facebook Live video on the page in which he promotes his new book, Our Lost Constitution, “We have two people running the show, two people writing this continuing resolution, two people negotiating in private—in secret, if you will—what the bill is going to be.”
By waiting until the last moment to address federal government funding, “a small handful of legislative leaders” have influence over the process, without the consultation of other legislators. With the “democratic process thwarted quite dramatically,” he added, he couldn’t vote for the CR.
He called on his colleagues—on both sides of the aisle—to stop voting for “stopgap” funding bills. That’s going to take some effort, though. The Senate approved the negotiated CR by a 72-26 vote, followed by a 342-85 vote in the House of Representatives.
Click here to see the entire speech.
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