Congressman Bill Johnson Shares Views On Spending Bill

This weekend Congressman Bill Johnson gave us an exclusive interview about his personal thoughts on the spending bill which the house passed earlier this week.

The $1.1 trillion bill will fund nearly the entire government through September. Congressman Johnson represents Ohio’s 6th District. He gave us his thoughts on it Saturday.

"There is no such thing as a perfect spending bill, there are things in it that I would have taken out, there are things in it that I probably would have liked to have seen in it. But the truth is that it moves the ball forward especially for people here in eastern and southeastern Ohio."

Initially the bill was very close to not being approved by the house, passing 219 votes to 206. We asked Johnson why he felt there was hesitation in the voting process. He gave us his opinions on the matter.

"What I heard from many of our members was the process. They didn’t disagree with the substance of the bill so much as they disagreed with the process. The fact that it could not be amended. But, the amendment process was already done through the appropriations bills that had been worked on so hard throughout the year so there was really no need to go back through that and drag this out."

The Senate passed the bill 56 votes to 40 in a last ditch effort Saturday night to keep the government open. It is waiting president Obama’s signature. He is expected to sign it. The Department of Homeland Security is the only government organization not funded through the fiscal year. As it is funded through late February.