What was in the Cromnibus

You may have heard about the US Congress passing a cromnibus bill – which is a continuing resolution (to pay the bills) bill and anything else a Representative or Senator can sneak in.

My former flatmate, Kevin Doyle, of Wexford Strategies, has published a list of some of things included in the bill:

• Prohibits chickens from China in school lunches.
• Prohibits funds for portrait-painting of elected officials.
• Requires heating modernization for Kaiserstautern, Germany military base must include US coal.
• Blocks DC recreational marijuana proposition, which was passed by referendum in Nov. 2014.
• Clarifies that Interior Secretary may make agreements regarding long-term care of excess wild horses and burros.
• Mandates that minimum 50% of BSEE fees be used for development of Outer Continental Shelf.
• Clarifies that breast feeding is allowed anywhere in federal buildings.
• Bars “federal agency monitoring of individuals’ internet use.”
• Removes funds for placing the Sage Grouse on the Endangered Species List.
• Bars federal contracts with inverted domestic corporations.
• Explicitly bars IRS targeting for ideological beliefs or exercise of First Amendment rights.
• Authorizes assistance to Syrian opposition to combat ISIL.
• Extends the Internet Tax Freedom Act until Oct. 1, 2015.
• Prohibits funding of salaries for the White House Director of Health Reform and Assistant for Energy and Climate Change.
• Prohibits funds for the NSA to acquire, monitor or store electronic communications of US person under FISA.
• Requires all US Attorneys in Task Force to combat human trafficking.
• Prohibits funding for inspecting horse slaughter facilities for horse meat for human consumption.
• Explicitly prohibits use of funds to support or justify use of torture by any US official.
• Blocks the Air Force from retiring the A-10 close-air support aircraft and U-2 spy plane.
• Prohibits funds for abortion under the federal employees health benefits program.
• Freezes pay for the Vice President and senior political appointees.
• Prohibits funding to require that entities bidding for federal contracts disclose campaign contributions.
• Prohibits funding for all agencies in the bill, including the IRS, to be used for activities in contravention of the Federal Records Act, such as inappropriately destroying documents.
• Requires Executive Orders issued during fiscal year 2015 to include a budgetary impact statement.
• Establishes additional reporting requirements to increase transparency of the activities of agencies whose funding jurisdiction fall outside annual congressional review, including the Office of Financial Stability and the Office of Financial Research.
• Requires that the Office of Management and Budget report on the costs to the government of Dodd-Frank financial reform.

Thank God we have a more sane system of Government. Parliament’s Standing Orders wouldn’t allow an omnibus bill like this. Only very minor amendments that have no significant policy effect can be included in an omnibus bill in NZ.