"We cannot afford it": House GOP leaders oppose omnibus

Republican leadership in the House is barreling ahead with efforts to prevent Democrats from passing a lame-duck omnibus spending bill this year.

“We’re 20 days before the new members are being sworn in. We’ve got two members leading appropriations in the Senate who will no longer be here or be able to be held accountable to the constituents,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said at a press conference on Wednesday. He was referring to Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., negotiating what will be in the omnibus, despite the fact that they will be leaving office next month.

“We’ve got an omni bill that takes 12 appropriation bills and puts them all together, and adds the baseline somewhere about $100 billion,” said McCathy, who secured his party’s nomination for the House speakership last month.