Biggs says $1.3T spending bill is Christmas for everyone but taxpayers

PHOENIX — An Arizona congressman said Wednesday that he had some concerns about a $1.3 trillion spending bill that would fund the federal government through September.

“It’s a Christmas tree with a present for everybody, except for conservatives and the taxpayers of this country,” U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Chad Benson Show.

Biggs said, because the bill would fund the government for months and must be passed before midnight Friday, it contained a lot of spending for pet projects.

“They reach the point where they think they have to do spending for the rest of the fiscal year, so they start adding everything in the world on there to get enough votes,” he said.

But the projects were only part of the bill the congressman disliked. He said it did not contain any funding for a border wall between the United States and Mexico, but promised $1.5 billion for security in the region.

“They’re going to say, ‘See? We’re doing something toward the wall, toward the promise that the president promised,” he said.

The bill was passed by the House on Thursday and was sent to the Senate. Biggs said voted against it because he objected to the way it came to a vote.

“Americans want a transparent, open, and fair government because the process in developing this $1.3 trillion spending bill was closed to amendments from members, the American people were prevented from seeing their representatives’ positions on important issues,” he said in a statement.

Prior to his vote, Biggs said he had not had a chance to read it in full yet.

“Let’s just be very frank that they have not even given us the text of the bill,” he said. “It’s over 2,000 pages long.”

Biggs also voted against a massive health care bill in May because he was not given enough time to read it over.

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