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Congressional budget bill is a win for President Obama

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., left, and Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., return to Ryan's office after passing the omnibus bill, at the Capitol on Friday, Dec. 18, 2015. The House easily passed a $1.14 trillion spending bill to fund the government through next September, capping a peaceful end to a yearlong struggle over the budget, taxes, and Republican demands of President Barack Obama.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., left, and Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., return to Ryan's office after passing the omnibus bill, at the Capitol on Friday, Dec. 18, 2015. The House easily passed a $1.14 trillion spending bill to fund the government through next September, capping a peaceful end to a yearlong struggle over the budget, taxes, and Republican demands of President Barack Obama. J. Scott Applewhite AP

President Obama made out very well for Christmas. I'm not talking about his $30 million Hawaii vacation. He gets gifts like that throughout the year. I'm talking about the gift that Congress gave him when they passed his budget bill.

They gave everything he asked for: funding for Planned Parenthood, funding for importing Muslim refugees, release of criminal aliens, funding for sanctuary cities, $3 billion for global warming, increased EPA control, and, of course, increased deficit spending. But no funding for a border fence and little increase in military spending.

And the Republicans got something: certain tax breaks and a quadrupling of foreign workers to help U.S. businesses.

Remember in 2010 when the Republicans complained that the Democrats held the presidency and both houses of Congress, and they had no say. The voters gave them control of the House.

Remember in 2014 when the Republicans complained that Senate leaders would not bring any bills passed by the House Republicans to a vote in the Senate. The voters gave the Republicans control of the Senate.

Remember last year when Republicans complained that House Speaker John Boehner would cave in to Obama. They replaced him with Paul Ryan. Nothing has changed.

The problem is that Obama threatens to veto any budget bill he doesn't like and there are too many Democrats (who vote in lock step with Obama) so that his veto cannot be overridden, and this would shut down the government. So 150 House Republicans, including Vern Buchanan and David Jolly, gave Obama what he demanded. (Only 95 voted against.) Sen. Marco Rubio did not vote. Remember them in the Republican primary. Why don't they pass a budget bill that Obama doesn't entirely like and let him shut down the government over Planned Parenthood funding or something?

Ken Geisinger

Bradenton

This story was originally published December 26, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Congressional budget bill is a win for President Obama ."

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