The lame-duck congressional spending bill has, without a doubt, turned into the ugliest omnibus ever.  Even if that weren’t entirely true, because I’ve never seen a good omnibus, the way Senator Lee was treated just a few hours ago on the floor of the Senate makes this omnibus the worst ever. 

Mr. Lee filed an amendment that would’ve extended the Title 42 border restrictions. Given President Biden’s open-border catastrophe, and the lack of any real omnibus funding to solve it, Mr. Lee’s amendment to extend Title 42 on both national security and public health grounds was a terrific move.  

Now comes the skullduggery, the sort of thing that makes common-sense Americans furious at the Congress in particular and the D.C. swamp in general. Mr. Lee had the votes to pass his amendment — it would’ve been 49-48 in favor — but Senator Schumer stepped in to extend the voting time by another 8 minutes for some arm-twisting. Guess whose arms he twisted? Those of Senators Sinema and Manchin.  

That’s Kyrsten Sinema, that recent well-known convert to independence, and Joe Manchin, who talks a great game and then votes his party line even though he has never gotten his promised permitting bill.  

Remember when he voted for the fraudulently named Inflation Reduction Act, and then told me and the rest of the world that he did it in return for a permitting bill that would open the oil and gas spigots and run a pipeline in West Virginia and presumably other pipelines, to help ameliorate our energy crisis?  

So, Mr. Schumer took Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin aside for a little while. Immediately thereafter, lo and behold, they changed their votes. That’s right: These two independent-minded people, who frequently boast that they are not part of the left-wing big-government socialist-sponsoring Democratic Party, miraculously change their votes.  

So, Mr. Lee’s amendment to extend Title 42 lost on a 50-47 vote. This is Congress at its worst.  

Now, what do these two stalwart independent thinking senators get for their miraculous vote switches? Did lightbulbs in their heads suddenly go off, this being the Christmas season?  Was there some new form of Immaculate Conception? Is it really a new Holy Trinity? The father, son, and the Holy Spirit — Schumer, Sinema, and Manchin?  

I somehow doubt it, even though according to my faith, I am a believer. In this case, please forgive me for suspending my faith-based belief.  

I don’t know what promises were made. I don’t know how many earmarks were offered. I don’t know what kind of special pork was put on the table. I will just say, though, the Sinema-Manchin switch to defeat Title 42 indeed was not some sort of holy Christmas season miracle. Although, maybe I need a rethink here, because perhaps Christmas came a few days early for Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin.  

Anyway, we will look forward with great interest for cloakroom gossip or other media leaks to find out the extent and cost of these Manchin-Sinema Christmas presents.  

One other point about this grisly story: Senator Lee is a very smart guy, for a bunch of reasons, including that extending Title 42 would be a poison pill for House Democrats. The entire omnibus bill would’ve probably gone down as a result.  

Therefore, something like a 15-day continuing resolution would’ve replaced it until the new House Republican majority took over to completely rewrite the budget — with proper priorities for economic prosperity and border security.  

So, we give Senator Lee quite a bit of credit for his herculean effort, even though it failed.   

Then again, let’s not absolve the Senate Republicans regarding violating their principles, giving up the power of the purse, and emasculating their reputation — to use Senator Paul’s phrase — while the majority of the GOP senators voted for an inflationary spending and recessionary tax increase piece of legislation. A Republican leadership should’ve never been there in the first place.  

By the way, Senator Johnson’s amendment to eliminate earmarks was defeated, and Mr. Paul’s amendment to restore budget caps was also defeated. This whole story is a very sad episode on all accounts.  

Sometimes you don’t know which is worse — the Republicans or the Democrats. Honestly. Hate to say it, but right now, it looks to be true.  

I’d love to give all of you a lovely Christmas present, and I surely send my season’s greetings. I know the forces of good will eventually triumph over the forces of evil. I just don’t have a specific date in mind. Save America. Kill the bill. We can do a lot better.  

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.