This week, Congress rushed the passage of a $1.5 trillion government funding bill. The process behind the passage of this bill was a prime example of the dysfunction in Washington and highlights just how far from regular order Congress has gotten.

Under the rules of regular order, each of the 12 bills used to fund the government would be scrutinized publicly by use of committee hearings to discern how much, if any, money should go toward each provision. This has not been the case lately, and was certainly not the case this week.

After months of closed door negotiating, Congressional leadership unveiled this $1.5 trillion bill at around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning with the intention of voting just a few hours later. To make matters even more scandalous, this bill is over 2,700 pages. 2,741, to be exact. Under these circumstances, it was virtually impossible for any one of my colleagues to read the contents of the bill on which we were expected to vote. Despite this reality, Speaker Pelosi still trudged forward and brought the package to the House floor for a vote that very same day.

At a time when consumer prices accelerated at their fastest pace in over 40 years for the fourth consecutive month, now would be the appropriate time to rein in Washington's habit of reckless spending, not exacerbate it. The super-rich won't feel the effects of the hidden inflation "tax", but when working-class Americans and their families need to pay more for gas, groceries, and housing, it takes a toll. Despite the cold hard facts about inflation, the non-security portion of this bill had a final price tag of over $628 billion, with massive increases for various federal agencies.

Specifically, this bill will provide the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with an increase of $675 million, which is particularly concerning considering President Biden has previously proposed to hire an additional 87,000 IRS agents to audit families earning $75,000 or less. Further, as the average gas price in Wisconsin topped $4 per gallon, several provisions would promote an agenda modeled off the Green New Deal at the taxpayers' expense.

Aside from the massive increases in spending, this package consists of a myriad of provisions that will ultimately harm American workers, families, and young people.

Buried within this legislation was one bright spot — additional funding for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), two agencies in desperate need of assistance from Washington as they face the brunt of President Biden's border crisis.

As a member of the Border Security Caucus, I was thrilled that our work to support CBP and ICE agents was effective because, thus far, President Biden undermined these agencies through his policies. Under President Biden, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) halted construction of the border wall, allowed COVID-positive illegal migrants to enter the United States, proposed amnesty for illegal migrants, and instituted several other harmful protocols that encourage illegal migration.

This failure of immigration protocol has resulted in over two million illegal immigrants arriving at the border illegally under the Biden Administration. CBP and ICE receiving more government funding to better equip their officials with much-needed resources is a promising first step to restoring security along our border, but we need concrete action from President Biden following his declaration that he will “secure the border”. I ask that the President overhaul our broken immigration system so the American people can again feel confident in the state of surveillance along the Southern border.

Too many of my colleagues enjoy carelessly spending trillions of your hard-earned tax dollars, but I believe we should meticulously inspect where every dollar is going to ensure many of these agencies are not receiving exorbitant, unnecessary amounts of cash. As your Representative, I will continue working to cut back on wasteful spending and fight policies that fuel inflation and supercharge our national debt, while still being mindful of our national security needs.