Ron Paul Liberty Report - Weekly Update --- The Real Scandal of the Spending Bill
Aired: 2020-12-30
Duration: 04:48


=== President Trump Vetoes Coronavirus Bill (04:45) ===

[00:00:03]  Hello, this is Ron Paul with your weekly report.
[00:00:07]  Last week, Congress passed a massive coronavirus relief and on-the-bus spending bill.
[00:00:15]  President Trump threatened to veto the bill, saying he wants to increase in the amount for the stimulus checks authorized by the bill from $600 to $2,000.
[00:00:27]  The checks are designed to help those harmed by the lockdown.
[00:00:31]  President Trump also demanded a cut in some of the wasteful spending contained in the bill, such as the $10 million for gender programs in Pakistan.
[00:00:43]  At the 11th hour, however, President Trump signed the bill.
[00:00:48]  President Trump's veto threat came after many people complained that a $600 one-time payment was insufficient and that the payment could be higher if Congress cut spending on militarism, foreign aid, and corporate handouts.
[00:01:06]  The text of the 5,593-page bill was made available hours before the votes in the House and Senate.
[00:01:16]  Representatives and senators were told the bill had to pass immediately or else government would shut down around Christmas.
[00:01:25]  This does not excuse voting for the bill.
[00:01:28]  Congress should have refused to vote for this bill until members had time to read it.
[00:01:34]  Those who voted yes could not get away with claiming the bill needed to be passed before members could read it.
[00:01:42]  While it is understandable that though the real outrage is that the rushed passage of the omnibus bills had become a yearly Christmas tradition on Capitol Hill, these spending bills are always full of outrageous special interest giveaways.
[00:02:00]  This practice denies the average member of Congress a meaningful role in carrying out one of Congress's two most significant constitutional duties, funding the government.
[00:02:13]  Congress long ago abandoned the other main constitutional responsibility, declaring war.
[00:02:20]  Whether $600 or $2,000 of a one-time stimulus payment is hardly adequate compensation for the suffering the government lockdowns have inflicted on the American people.
[00:02:33]  Stimulus checks will not reopen, close small businesses, or stop increases in domestic violence and substance abuse.
[00:02:43]  A government check will not restore educational and development opportunities denied to children stuck at home struggling with a virtual education.
[00:02:56]  A one-time check will not compensate workers for the health problems developed due to having to wear a mask for eight hours a day.
[00:03:05]  The only just solution is to end the lockdowns and never again allow overblown fears to justify shutting down the economy.
[00:03:16]  Funding the government via massive omnibus bills drafted in secret and rushed into law concentrates power in the hands of a select few.
[00:03:26]  And senators and congressmen benefit.
[00:03:30]  It also gives the president excessive influence over the appropriations process.
[00:03:36]  This is exactly the opposite of what the framers intended when they gave Congress power over government spending.
[00:03:45]  This situation is the inevitable result of a government that tries to maintain the fiction that Republican institutions are compatible with a welfare warfare leviathan.
[00:03:59]  Congress will continue to indulge this delusion until the system collapses.
[00:04:04]  This collapse will likely be brought on by a collapse in the dollar's value.
[00:04:11]  The combination of the high-profile coronavirus bill will this year's omnibus bill spending bill has brought new attention to Congress's practice of funding the government via massive unread appropriation bills.
[00:04:27]  Hopefully, the anger people are expressing, instead of just disappearing once the people receive their check, will strengthen the movement to return to free markets and limited constitutional government.
[00:04:41]  Liberty is a far better option than descent into economic chaos and totalitarianism.