In an incredibly divisive congressional battle, Democrats together with some Republicans finally passed an enormous spending bill. This bill is a massive $1.7 trillion package that touches on everything from providing more funds for small businesses to increasing military spending as we continue bickering with China. It also contains a number of provisions that will make a huge difference in how elections are run.

The election overhauls in this bill address the issue of Vice Presidents attempting to discount electoral votes. The measure raises the threshold to object to counting them from one member of each chamber to one-fifth of each chamber, protecting election integrity and taking power away from the vice president. Additionally, Democrats had wanted a bigger package of election and voting laws, but they were constrained by Senate rules that necessitated at least 10 Republican votes to defeat a filibuster.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, spoke out strongly against this bill and the process by which it was crafted, calling it “a slap in the face to every American that voted” to elect a House Republican majority in the 2022 election. He argued it spends too much money on things like “woke-ism” instead of helping hardworking Americans and their families. Other Republicans joined McCarthy in his outrage. Rep. Scott Perry even went so far as to say Democrats were “destroying our country” with this legislation.

These divisions foreshadow difficult two years ahead for Republicans as they oversee a paper-thin House majority and face down a Democrat led Senate and Biden presidency. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell clearly holds different views than some other members of his party. He believes that dramatically increased military spending was essential in combating China and emphasized that domestic priorities have already been funded heavily over the past few years during the pandemic crisis.

All these points illustrate why I think this new spending bill is bad news for America. It throws money away on superfluous wokeism instead of focusing those resources on American workers like we should be doing! The proposed election law changes give too much power to politicians instead of leaving it up to the people who actually vote! We cannot let Democrats keep pushing through bills like this. It’s time for everyone who believes in fair elections, sensible spending priorities, and giving power back to everyday Americans take action now.