‘This Should Never Happen Again:’ Mike Lee Slams GOP Support for Spending Bill, Warns ‘We Will Self-Destruct as a Party’

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) raged against the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill the Senate passed on Thursday with some Republican support. The bill would fund the government through September, and is expected to pass the House.

The legislation required 60 votes to advance, which is 10 more than the Democrats had at their disposal. However, 18 Republicans crossed the aisle to vote for the package, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

The bill has enraged many GOP senators, as well as House Republicans, who will retake the lower chamber in January. They urged their Senate colleagues to wait until Republicans hold a majority in the House, where they would force spending cuts.

Appearing on Fox Business on Thursday, Lee told host Larry Kudlow there’s simply no way the senators had time to read the 4,155-page behemoth of a bill.

“Senator Lee, just the last point here,” Kudlow told Lee. “I think Sen. Rand Paul put his finger on it. He was on our show a couple nights ago. He said the GOP has lost any power of the purse and he said the GOP has emasculated itself. This is not a good episode for the Republican Party, is it?”

“No, not at all,” Lee replied, who railed against tax hikes in the bill and went on to slam the legislation’s size:

“One of the reasons that this sort of thing can happen and not get much attention in the process – and Republicans can still go through the motions and vote for it, devastatingly – is because it’s folded into a 4,155-page bill,” he continued. “There’s not a human alive who can digest 4,155 pages of legislative appropriations text in that short a period of time.”

The senator then took a veiled shot at Republican leadership.

“That’s one of the reasons why this should never happen,” Lee concluded. “Republicans in particular who do this should be asked to never, ever, do it again. We will self-destruct as a party if this ever happens again.”

CORRECTION: This article originally misstated the number of Republican who voted for the omnibus bill. The number was 18, not eight.

Watch above via Fox Business Network.