WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) released the following statement regarding his NO vote on H. Res. 1102, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, or “minibus”:

“In my 5 years in Congress, this bill may be one of the worst entrenchments of the Washington Swamp I have ever seen. It is a blatant violation of everything we set out to do this Congress — spending our country into oblivion, combining spending programs into a bloated bill rather than dealing with single subjects, and rushing it to the House floor before members — let alone voters — even have time to read it.

If the vast majority of taxpayers were truly given time to learn what is in this bill, they would rightly be furious. It spends billions of dollars on the very bureaucracy being weaponized against the people, like the anti-Second Amendment ATF and a brand new building for the FBI. It wastes hundreds of thousands on immoral social engineering projects like “increasing diversity” in state contracts and “Gender Affirming Clothing Programs.” But perhaps even more importantly than what the bill does do is what it does not do. It does absolutely nothing to fix the border crisis — and, in fact, it sends the Department of Homeland Security even more money in this fiscal year to continue their open border policies and flagrantly violating the law. Congress isn’t just failing to fix the problem. It is making the problem worse.

This is a complete miscarriage of the spending process. This is not what voters sent us here to do.

Last week, as I was reviewing this spending bill, the New York Post released a terrifying video of the Texas National Guard being overrun by migrants illegally crossing the border in El Paso. Over 100 migrants broke through a razor wire fence, rushed over the national guard, and reports say they were later processed and then released into the interior. This is happening every single day. My state back home is being overrun. Our country is being invaded. Over and over, I hear Republicans in Congress talk about how bad the border crisis is and how it needs to be solved — but frankly, you don’t have a right to complain about the issue if you keep voting for terrible bills like this one and keep sending Joe Biden more money to shamelessly break the law. If you’re a Republican and vote for these bills, it is on you just as much as it is on Democrats.

At some point, those who call themselves conservatives are going to have to stand up. I fear we are running out of time.”

H.Res. 1102 passed on suspension of the rules by a vote of 286 – 134.  

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