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We must do better than this. I fully understand that in a divided government, you don't get everything you want. Americans expect their elected officials to work together and I've never claimed to have a monopoly on good ideas. But voting on a $1.1 trillion budget that was introduced about 48 hours ago and is stuffed with all kinds of last minute provisions is exactly why Washington has lost the trust of the people we serve and why Congress’ approval mirrors that of third-world dictators.

There are some good things in this bill. It restricts EPA regulations that would hurt local farms and risk jobs. It slashes the IRS budget and prohibits funds for targeting citizens or groups for scrutiny for exercising their First Amendment rights. And it largely maintains the incremental progress on controlling spending Republicans have fought for in recent years, resulting in $165 billion in reductions since FY 2010.

But in the few hours we’ve had to review the bill, we’ve already found enough special interest giveaways to fill a truck. As Nancy Pelosi famously said, "we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it” -- I’m not playing that game. And this bill does absolutely nothing to block President Obama’s unilateral amnesty order, which even the Washington Post has said “the scale of Mr. Obama’s move goes far beyond anything his predecessors attempted.”

We're more than $18 trillion in debt and are in the process of bankrupting programs like Social Security and Medicare. We must control spending and we must reform a government that can’t even get the basic tasks (like passing a budget) right. I will fight as hard as I can in the next Congress to end the process of kicking these issues down the road. It’s time to lead or go home.