Texas Republican trashes $1.7T government spending bill

Rep. Pat Fallon on Sunday deemed the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill approved last week to be "garbage."

© AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool Rep. Pat Fallon said the $1.7 trillion spending bill should have focused more on border issues.

Speaking on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures," the Texas Republican said: "It was an absolute piece of garbage, and that’s why I voted not only no, but hell no.”

Despite Fallon's "hell no," the House on Friday voted 225-201 to approve the legislation, mostly along party lines, one day after the Senate voted 68-29 for passage. Both votes came at the tail end of the lame-duck session.

"It's just littered with pork," Fallon said.

On Sunday, he rattled off a series of objections to the measure, particularly a lack of funding for border protection as opposed to money for specific projects he deemed insignificant or worthless," saying the situation at the Southern border was "about 1,000 percent worse than it was under President Trump."

Both Fallon and host Jason Chaffetz, a former Republican member of Congress from Utah, said they did not understand why Republicans in Senate allowed the bill to be taken up. Eighteen Senate Republicans ultimately voted in favor of it, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as did nine House Republicans.

"I am just fundamentally not understanding why the Senate decided to take it up. They didn't have to," Chaffetz said.

"You know, Jason, it boggles the mind," Fallon replied.