We are disappointed by the omnibus budget passed by the Senate and House last week.

At a time when our national debt is more than $31 trillion, our legislators have voted to spend an additional $772.5 billion on domestic programs and $858 billion on defense.

As U.S. Rep. Fred Keller, R-Kreamer, who voted against the bill, put it: “the budgeting process in Congress is broken.”

We already are beginning to see details trickle in concerning some of the least necessary and most wasteful programs, and we appreciate the efforts to shine light on waste.

But we also believe it is important to take a moment and acknowledge that there are important measures within the budget as well. There are worthwhile initiatives and ideas that could make our federal government serve our interests better.

But, at $772.5 billion in new domestic spending – and, again, with more than $31 trillion in national debt – we still must note that the prudent course would be to spend less than this excessive bill on such programs.

The bill contains $38 billion for disaster relief, plans to increase funding for children’s nutrition programs, $8 billion for child care block grants and $12 billion in funding for the Head Start program.

These programs have merit. More spending on these programs and others could, perhaps, be justified – had our lawmakers put in the time and hard work reducing spending in other places and in setting our nation back on the path toward a responsible budget.

Because, with this bill as the latest step, we are not on that path. We instead are on the path toward, in Keller’s words, “unsustainable debt.”