H.R. 7148, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, is simply another bloated spending bill. It reflects a political system that no longer respects constitutional, moral or fiscal limits. Like every omnibus before it, this bill embodies bipartisan agreement in Washington that the government should expand, debt should grow, and accountability should vanish behind urgency and procedural gamesmanship.
The American founders warned explicitly against this kind of governance. They understood that liberty cannot survive when power is centralized, spending is detached from consent, and laws are passed without meaningful deliberation. Yet Congress now routinely pushes through massive, multi-thousand-page bills under the threat of a shutdown, giving members no real opportunity to read, debate or amend them. That is not representative government, it is administrative rule masquerading as legislation.
H.R. 7148 authorizes billions in new spending while the national debt exceeds $38 trillion, a number so large it has become politically abstract. But debt is not abstract to working Americans. It appears as inflation, declining purchasing power, higher interest rates, and an economy distorted by constant intervention. Inflation is not caused by free markets; it is caused by governments creating money to cover spending they cannot afford. Every omnibus bill is, in effect, an inflation bill.
The spending priorities in H.R. 7148 make clear who benefits from this system. The bill allocates more than $5 billion for cash assistance, health care, child care, and employment programs for refugees. Regardless of one’s views on immigration, the federal government has no constitutional authority to operate an ever-expanding global welfare system while Americans are told to accept higher prices and permanent deficits as unavoidable.
The bill also includes $315 million for the State Department’s global influence operations, a government-funded propaganda apparatus that claims to promote freedom abroad while increasingly engaging in narrative control. A free society does not require government-approved messaging. The moment the state takes responsibility for “shaping information,” liberty is already in retreat.
Foreign aid consumes billions more: over $3 billion for Israel, $1.5 billion for Egypt, $2.1 billion for Jordan, and $700 million for foreign AIDS and HIV programs. For decades, Congress has treated foreign spending as untouchable while neglecting debt, infrastructure decay, and veterans at home. This is not generosity; it is empire maintenance. Non-interventionism is not isolationism. It is recognition that a republic cannot survive while attempting to subsidize and police the world indefinitely.
Perhaps the clearest indictment of H.R. 7148 is not what it funds, but what Congress refused to allow. Amendments were proposed that would have placed tangible limits on federal power. One would have prohibited the federal government from mandating or installing remote “kill switches” in private vehicles, a policy that should alarm anyone who values property rights and freedom of movement. Another would have frozen funding tied to widespread daycare fraud, an obvious step toward fiscal responsibility. A third would have closed loopholes in the FISA Act that permit warrantless surveillance of Americans, a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment, and finally an amendment that would remove funding for refugee welfare.
These amendments were blocked in a Congress where Republicans hold the majority. The uncomfortable truth is that Washington prefers Americans not to notice.
Omnibus bills are the lifeblood of a permanent political class that thrives on debt, secrecy, and centralized control. The Constitution does not authorize Congress to spy on its citizens without warrants, fund propaganda against them, manage global affairs indefinitely, or bind future generations to endless debt. A free people cannot remain free when their government refuses to live within its means or acknowledge limits to its authority.
H.R. 7148 is not merely a budgeting failure; it is a philosophical one. It reflects a governing class that no longer believes in self-government, sound money, or constitutional restraint. Until Congress returns to single-issue legislation, honest money, non-intervention abroad, and strict adherence to the Constitution, the decline will continue quietly, predictably, and at an enormous cost to liberty.
Matthew McLain is an Alabama Young Republican and an accountant for a Fortune 500 company.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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