Beacon Hill Democrats Are Taking Advantage Of Informal Legislative Session To Pass Bloated $3.7 Billion Spending Bill

WOBURN — Informal legislative sessions, attended by at most only a handful of lawmakers, feature no roll call votes and are used to address various matters “which are of a non-controversial nature,” according to the state Legislature.

 Yet this morning Democratic leadership will advance a bloated $3.7 billion spending package without recording a single yes-or-no vote.

Review the 203-page spending list by clicking here

The spending spree includes items such as $1 million on a smear campaign disguised as “a public awareness campaign to educated providers and the public about so-called crisis pregnancy centers,” and more than half a billion dollars on “clean” energy initiatives.

The package also eliminates tax cuts and rebates that had previously been negotiated, according to the State House News Service.

Democratic leadership cited “financial uncertainties in the year ahead.”

Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons on Thursday called the Democrats’ reasoning “a total contradiction.”

“They removed the tax cuts from the original package, and the reason they did that, according to their own words, is that they’re uncertain about economic conditions moving forward,” Lyons said. “Yet somehow that isn’t stopping them from spending a whopping $3.7 billion of the taxpayers’ money.

“This is exactly why Massachusetts taxpayers are absolutely fed up with the status quo on Beacon Hill. The Democrats are using an informal session to pass this progressive grab bag stuffed with handouts because they’re afraid of having to go on the record and actually vote for it.”

Lyons added that he will be calling on lawmakers to explain how a $3.7 billion spending bill is “non-controversial in nature,” referencing rules governing informal sessions.

“It’s completely wrong and it’s a slap in the face to the voters, delivered by Democrats with the back of the hand just days before the Election.”