July 6th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement condemning the House of Representatives for attaching $10 billion state education funding to the pending war supplemental last week, which passed 215 to 210:
“Nancy Pelosi’s House has shown its true colors through the attachment of a non-essential $10 billion political slush fund to the war supplemental, which will be used to bail out bankrupt states like California and New York that refuse to make necessary cuts to balance their budgets, and whose teacher unions have run up an unsustainable tab for taxpayers.
“The final passage of the war supplemental remains in doubt in the Senate so long as these bailouts are attached. Pelosi was barely able to muster the votes necessary for passage, and even then only got what she needed through the passage of a House rule ‘deeming’ the supplemental to have passed.
“The end result is a piece of legislation that cannot pass the Senate, leaving critical resources for our fighting men and women uncertain. Defense Secretary Bob Gates that Congress’ failure could result in a failure to pay active-duty military, and General Petraeus has called the supplemental ‘essential for the conduct of this mission.’
“Yet Nancy Pelosi’s House is willing to put the mission in jeopardy by holding the supplemental hostage to a bailout of their favored political constituency. This is unacceptable to the American people, who expect troops in harm’s way to be funded without controversy. The Senate must do its part to remove any public union bailouts and pass a clean war supplemental.”
Attachments:
Troops’ Funding Held Hostage by Public Sector Union Politics, by ALG President Bill Wilson, June 28th, 2010.
ALG Urges Congress to Reject $100 Billion Handout to Public Employee Unions, June 22nd, 2010.
“Driving Right Off the Cliff,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, June 16th, 2010.
ALG Letter to Congress Against States Bailout, May 27th, 2010.
Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.
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