Senators Johnson and Lee slam McConnell over Omnibus

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, are still seething over the Senate passing last week’s $1.7 trillion omnibus bill, and apparently not waiting until 2023 to negotiate terms for such a massive spending initiative.

And from the two senators’ perspective, the brunt of blame lies squarely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

“The arrogance of our [Senate GOP] leadership who said, ‘We know better than House members. We’re going to pass this. We’ll get religion next year when it comes to fiscal sanity,'” Johnson told John Catsimatidis in a Sunday interview that aired on national radio.

“I’m not buying it. Unfortunately, our supporters aren’t going to buy it either,” added Johnson.

The Wisconsin Republican voted against the measure last week.

However, it still garnered passage through the Senate, with the help of a large handful of Republican senators — including Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Alabama’s Richard Shelby, Missouri’s Roy Blunt, Maine’s Susan Collins, Texas’ John Cornyn, Ohio’s Rob Portman, South Dakota’s John Thune, Utah’s Mitt Romney, and the aforementioned McConnell — who are primarily viewed as more “establishment” GOP than “America First” lawmakers.

On Friday, the omnibus bill cleared the House in a largely party line 225-201 vote, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., being the only Democrat to file a dissenting vote.

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