| Washington D.C.- Eighty-Six members of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) led a letter sent to President Bush today by House Republicans pledging to sustain a Presidential veto of the pork-corrupted war spending bill. Democrats have admitted the bill contains billions in pork-barrel spending unrelated to accomplishing the U.S. Mission in Iraq.
On Meet the Press yesterday, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) admitted that billions in funding – including money for cricket infestation, tours of the capitol, peanut crops, spinach, and shrimp – was thrown into the bill in order to gain Democrat support for a strategy that otherwise would have been unable to pass the House. All but two Republicans voted against H.R. 1591, the Iraq War Supplemental – which in addition to over $20 billion in unrelated pork, contains Rep. Murtha’s slow bleed strategy to choke off funding for American servicemen.
Congressman Jeb Hensarling, Chairman of the RSC, issued the following statement:
“It is outrageous for the majority party in Congress to insert billions in pork into a troop funding bill to influence votes and strong-arm the unpopular slow bleed strategy through Congress. Our nation is at war, and this letter makes it clear that Republicans will stand with our troops against such contemptible politicking.
“If Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat majority want to bring home our troops immediately, the Constitution grants them the power to cut off funding for the mission. It does not grant them the power to act as Commander-in-Chief, and it does not condone using funding for unrelated, non-emergency local projects to secure votes to tie the hands of military commanders and undermine our President.
“If Speaker Pelosi wishes to be the face of an ethical Congress, she should ‘take a deep breath,’ realize her constitutional role, and submit a clean troop funding bill to the House of Representatives that is focused on providing our troops in harms way with the support they need to win.”
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