From the InBox:

Accurate Information on the CRomnibus My office has received a tremendous number of phone calls and emails from constituents who believe I should have voted against the 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill. However, there is a tremendous amount of misinformation about the bill, and I believe a yes vote was the right vote for both Texas and our nation. I am sending you accurate information in this email so you can decide for yourself. 1.  All Republican Members of Congress share the same goal – to totally defund and repeal President Obama’s illegal amnesty and to repeal and replace Obamacare. Our only difference is in the tactics we believe will work best. 2.  It is not true that the omnibus funds President Obama’s illegal amnesty. 3.  It is not true that the omnibus fully funds Obamacare. 4.  If the House had passed a short term Continuing Resolution, we would have almost certainly lost all of the good provisions that House conservatives won in this legislation. Plus a Continuing Resolution means the President can continue to do everything just as he has been. We need to stop President Obama as quickly as possible, and I do not want him to keep doing things the same way. Former Texas Senator Phil Gramm often said that liberals achieve so much because they’re satisfied with small incremental gains. He often told me that conservatives must advance our legislative agenda, even if it’s just two or three feet at a time. This bill does that. As a college football fan, I know it is always a bad idea to punt the ball and get nothing if you are in field goal range. Particularly since we will have a Republican Senate in less than three weeks and can immediately get to work to go after the rest of President Obama’s destructive agenda. I am frankly amazed we forced Obama to cut overall federal spending and to implement the additional spending restrictions House conservatives won in this bill. The final omnibus bill is the product of nearly 100 House committee hearings and markups, more than 400 amendments offered by members during 79 hours of floor debate, and is based on eleven individual House Republican appropriation bills. So all House Republicans participated at length in creating almost all of this bill.  I am writing today to reassure you that I will always keep my word to you. My good name is my most valuable possession, and my reputation as your representative in Congress is built on trust. I have given you links within this email so you can verify everything I have told you. Above all, I want you to know that I treasure your trust, and I will always work hard to earn it.  You have my word that I will do everything in my power as your representative to stop Barack Obama from doing more damage to this great nation, and that I will not rest until we have undone his illegal amnesty and repealed and replaced Obamacare. I will always do the right thing for the right reasons, and I will keep working to cut spending and taxes, to balance our budget, and to restore the 10th Amendment to get the federal government out of our lives, so that Texans truly run Texas.

I’m happy to see a solid conservative like Rep. Culberson fighting back against the mis-information that is flowing around the country in relation to the vote on the co-called CRomnibus. Too many people are getting duped by talk radio entertainment hosts into believing that the “establishment” has “sold out” the conservative base. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Galveston County GOP Chair Barbara Meeks adds these facts to the conversation via Facebook:

Background:

The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, provides $1.013 trillion for the federal government. This is consistent with the Ryan-Murray Agreement’s caps of $521 billion for defense and $492 billion for non-defense spending. H.R. 83 fully funds 11 of the 12 regular Appropriations bills through September 30, 2015, and funds the Department of Homeland Security under a Continuing Resolution (CR) until February 27, 2015.

Highlights:

• Fully funds our troops’ pay raise that was authorized in the NDAA
• Includes $94 billion for new equipment and upgrades of attack submarines, EA-18G Growlers, KC-46 Tankers, F-35 JSF, and 3 Littoral Combat Ships
• $5.4 billion to Fight Ebola in the US and abroad (below the president’s request)
• Provides $64 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding for our troops, to combat ISIL, Train and Equip Iraqi allies, and support for Ukraine
• Prohibits transfer or release of Guantanamo detainees into USA
• No new funding for ObamaCare
• Prohibits funds for ObamaCare Risk Corridors
• Requires HHS and Treasury to report to Congress on improper payments of ObamaCare tax subsidies
• Cuts the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) by $10 million
• Maintains all existing pro-life policy and funding provisions
• Hyde, Tiahart, Helms, and Kemp-Kasten Amendments, bans public funding for abortions in the DC, within FEHBP, and federal prisoners
• Three new pro-life provisions:
• Obamacare transparency – requires ObamaCare healthcare plans to tell customers if they provide abortion services
• Conscience protection – requires HHS Office of Civil Rights to address complaints of violations
• Provides $12 million in unused abstinence education funds
• Cuts EPA $60 million (fifth consecutive year of cuts, totaling a 21{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} reduction since FY10, and a decrease in 2,000 positions – 1989 levels)

That’s a whole lot of good stuff – for conservatives.

And if that isn’t enough, how about this?

IRS warns of possible shutdown

In the recent budget deal, Congress cut the IRS budget by $346 million to $10.9 billion — $1.5 billion less than the administration asked for. The IRS’ budget has been reduced about $1 billion since 2010.

(click here to read the entire article by Rachel Bade on Politico.com)

Republicans have reduced the IRS’s budget by a billion dollars since 2010? Who’d a thunk it? No one, if your source of “news” is entertainment talk radio.

Relax folks. Republicans are doing the job they were hired to do. The federal government didn’t get this big in few years, it is going to take time to get it under control. At least the guys we put there are taking the job seriously.