Press Conference Tomorrow
Joint Press Conference to Focus on Out-of-Control Spending in Supplemental Appropriations
| DATE: | April 25, 2006 |
| TIME: | 10:00 am EDT |
| LOCATION: | 2141 Rayburn House Office Building |
| SPEAKERS: | David A. Keene, Chairman, The American Conservative Union John Berthoud, President, National Taxpayers Union Tom Schatz, President, Citizens against Government Waste David Keating, Executive Director, Club for Growth Alison Acosta Fraser, Director, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation |
| CONTACT: | Chad Kolton, 202-585-2902 |
Despite the outrage among conservative voters over the "bridge to nowhere" in last year's transportation bill, Congress is now trying to fund a "railroad to nowhere" in this year's emergency supplemental spending bill for the war on terror and hurricane relief.
President Bush has requested $92 billion in emergency spending for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and for hurricane recovery. The House passed a $92 billion bill last month; the Senate will consider a $106.5 billion version the week of April 25. In a sad display, members are using both the House and Senate bills, intended to give our troops the support they need, to fund their own unrelated pork projects. For instance, the Senate bill includes $700 million for the "railroad to nowhere" -- a relocation of the newly repaired CSX rail line -- as well as $20 million for AmeriCorps, $1 million for an international air show in Las Vegas, and $1.9 million for the MountainMade Foundation in West Virginia (which already received $2.2 million in the regular annual budget).
The nation's leading conservative organizations will call on Congress to remove the pork and bloat from the supplemental, and stress the need for reforms to prevent further abuse of the emergency loophole.
