Facing broad opposition, Senate leadership has decided to pull the massive, pork-laden $1.1 trillion omnibus bill from the floor. After failing to pass a budget and any of the subsequent appropriations bills, the omnibus was introduced to continue to fund the government through the remainder of FY2011. But in typical Washington fashion, the bill became weighed down with over 6,000 earmarks with a cost of over $8 billion.

Politico notes that this is a problem transcending party lines:

Democrats have only themselves to blame for failing to pass any of the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund the day-to-day operations of the government. At the same time, Republicans contributed mightily to this failure…

Left unsaid is that [Senate Minority Leader McConnell] encouraged the omnibus effort before the election and that, even after Nov. 2, McConnell continued to hedge his bets, never taking out his estimated $112.8 million in spending earmarks, nor pulling back old friends on the Senate Appropriations Committee working on behalf of the measure.

We look forward to the day when Congress stops playing politics with the economic issues that have a very real affect on Americans’ everyday lives.

BA