Correction: Ireland would get $15 million for the International Fund for Ireland, not $15 billion to the International Monetary Fund for Ireland.
December 15th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on $1.27 trillion omnibus spending bill under consideration in the Senate:
“This $1.27 trillion omnibus monstrosity will fully fund ObamaCare for a year and contains over 6,600 outrageous earmarks, favors, kickbacks, and handouts from lawmakers to favored special interests totaling more than $8 billion. That includes $349,000 for swine waste management, $3.5 million for termite research in Louisiana, $6 million for parkland acquisition in Hawaii, and $15 million to the International Fund for Ireland. And yet, at least 4 Senate Republicans are considering supporting this bill: Senators Kit Bond, George Voinovich, Susan Collins, and Bob Bennett.
“The support of Senators Bond, Voinovich, Collins and Bennett would be enough to push this $1.27 trillion omnibus bill across the finish line, and would come in spite of a Senate Republican conference moratorium against earmarks. If Republicans cannot keep their promise to stop spending now, the American people will rightly question their credibility on fiscal matters. The American people have every right to be outraged, but they will pillory any Republican that votes for this. Republicans should stand with the American people against this waste.
“The American people have handed control of the House back to Republicans, and increased their numbers in the Senate, to more than anything else, stop the spending. But Republican support for the $1.27 trillion omnibus bill tells the American people that the decisive verdict they rendered in the November elections has gone unheeded.
“The nation is quickly going broke, and yet Congress continues to spend and pretend that there is nothing wrong. A vote for this omnibus is a vote for another trillion-dollar deficit in 2011. Where are the spending cuts the American people were promised?
“Americans for Limited Government supports Senator Judd Gregg’s amendment for a 45-day continuing resolution. If the current members of Congress have no political will to cut spending now, then the job should fall on the next session. It is time for Senate Republicans to stand for something. But nobody will believe the GOP stands for anything, if they cannot in fact stop anything. The vote on the $1.27 trillion omnibus monstrosity, if it goes through with Republican support, will be a repudiation by Washington of the outcome of the November elections.”
Attachment:
“Sovereign Debt Crisis Can Happen Here,” ALG President Bill Wilson, December 14th, 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.
###