'Washington is beyond broken': Republicans slam party leaders for dropping spending bill last minute

Congressional Republicans on Thursday criticized GOP and Democratic leaders for dropping a massive spending bill on lawmakers shortly before the planned vote on Friday. 

The full text of the 1,012 page "minibus" spending bill was released around 2:30am.

"At 2:32 am—when Americans were sleeping—the Swamp released its second half of the omnibus," Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., wrote Thursday on X. "1,012 pages that spend $1.2 TRILLION of taxpayer dollars on disastrous policies. The House is still expected to vote on this monstrosity TOMORROW MORNING. Washington is beyond broken."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., compared the situation to the time when Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was speaker.

"It takes 27.8 hours for the average reader to read 1,000 pages. I guess we are supposed to just pass it first and then find out what’s in it like Nancy Pelosi says. This comes after months and months of hardly any effort to pass single issue appropriation bills while 3 Continuing Resolutions (continuing Pelosi’s budget) were passed," Greene wrote on X.

"Our Republican majority started this Congress with sweeping rule changes to stop this very behavior yet here we are on the verge of passing a second minibus under suspension with no amendments allowed and violating the 72 hour rule," she added.

Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., said he will vote against the bill on Friday, partly because members won’t be given 72 hours to review it.

Tiffany also said the bill "funds Biden’s border invasion" and the new FBI headquarters in Maryland.

"All this does is continue the failed status quo. I will be voting NO," Tiffany wrote on X.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said on Thursday that "no sane person would buy a car under this kind of pressure—with a 1,012-page contract and no meaningful opportunity to review it or make changes."

Reacting to the late release of the spending bill, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said the U.S. "cannot afford this continued reckless spending," given that the national debt is currently $34.5 trillion.