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Western Pa.'s House delegation divided on $1.3 trillion spending bill

J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

Western Pa.'s House delegation divided on $1.3 trillion spending bill

A spending bill that was quickly passed by the House on Thursday received mixed support from Western Pennsylvania’s Republican delegation. Reps. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-Centre, and Bill Shuster, R-Hollidaysburg, supported it while Reps. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, and Keith Rothfus, R-Sewickley, opposed it.

The region’s only Democrat, Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forrest Hills, voted in favor.

Mr. Rothfus said it was irresponsible to force a vote on a 2,200-page, $1.3 trillion spending plan less than a day after it was introduced. Constituents didn’t elect him to rubber-stamp omnibus bills “that are written in the shadows and dropped on my desk the night before the vote,” he said.

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“While this spending bill funds many important programs, which I have repeatedly supported, taxpayers are best served when members can debate, amend, and vote on each of the 12 individual appropriations bills,” he said. “Our country has a spending problem, and this omnibus bill denies our members the chance to prioritize funding for the most pressing issues facing our country.”

Mr. Thompson said the legislation incorporates the 12 appropriations bills that passed the House last year and that it adheres to budget caps while providing an $80 billion boost to defense funding and directing resources to important areas such as homeland security, infrastructure, education, safety, agriculture and efforts to combat opioid addiction.

It “invests in our military, increases school safety and education funding, and provides for our rural communities,” he said.

Mr. Kelly took to Twitter to explain his vote.

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“I was sent to Congress to help fix Washington’s spending problem and restore fiscal responsibility so that our children and grandchildren won’t be burdened by devastating debt,” he tweeted. “The $1.3 trillion omnibus, and the process by which it was written, is part of the problem.”

Many Twitter followers thanked him for voting “no”; several others said that if he were really concerned about future debt, he would have opposed GOP tax cuts that analysts say will not pay for themselves by spurring the economy as Republicans suggest.

The legislation now moves to the Senate, where Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said he is reviewing the bill. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., could not immediately be reached.

Mr. Casey said he supports the general framework and is encouraged that it includes opioid funding and initiatives he worked on including his Helping Children of Fallen First Responders Act, which increases federal Pell Grants for children of police officers and other first responders who die in the line of duty. Under the provision he wrote, children of the fallen could receive the maximum grant of $5,920 per year of full-time study.

“There aren’t many ways you can recognize and support the family after that loved one has been killed, but this is one way to lessen some of the burden on that family when they’ve lived through the horror of a death by helping with the challenge of providing for the family that’s left behind,” Mr. Casey said.

Washington Bureau Chief Tracie Mauriello: tmauriello@post-gazette.com; 703-996-9292 or on Twitter @pgPoliTweets.

First Published: March 22, 2018, 9:24 p.m.

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The Capitol in Washington, D.C.  (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press)
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