The Legislative Sausage Factory
Omnibus Bills
Where thousands of pages of legislation get bundled together at the last minute, voted on sight-unseen, and passed in the dead of night.
What is an Omnibus Bill?
An omnibus bill combines multiple appropriations bills into a single massive package, typically thousands of pages long. Instead of passing 12 separate spending bills through the normal committee process, Congress bundles them together at the last minute — often with a government shutdown deadline looming.
Because of their size and timing, omnibus bills are virtually impossible to read before voting. They frequently contain policy riders — unrelated provisions that couldn't pass on their own merits, hidden among the spending provisions like presents nobody asked for.