Posted on 06/28/2002 9:54:55 AM PDT by ReleaseTheHounds
More than 145 Representatives—more than enough to sustain a Presidential veto—have pledged to uphold a veto of supplemental spending legislation that busts the budget, House Policy Chairman Christopher Cox (R-CA) announced today.
“The Senate’s failure to pass a budget has left it to the House and to the President to take more responsibility to control spending,” Chairman Cox said. “Our pledge lets President Bush and our conferees know that they have full authority to save taxpayers billions of dollars. It creates a House-White House alliance in support of the bipartisan House bill, approved 280-138 on May 24.”
The Senate remains unwilling to make tough spending decisions—the latest example being a prescription drug bill more than double the size of the just-passed House bill. A House-Senate conference on the supplemental spending bill is expected the week of July 8, after Congress returns from the Independence Day District Work Period.
The text of the letter to control spending and a list of signatories follow:
Dear Mr. President:
To win the War on Terrorism and sustain economic growth, the federal government must control spending.
To this end, we will sustain your veto of any supplemental appropriation legislation that:
· Requires that you spend in excess of $27.1 billion, the amount of emergency 2002 supplemental spending you requested; or
· Provides less than you requested to win the War on Terrorism, or to rebuild New York.
The bill passed by the House on May 24 by a vote of 280-138 meets these criteria. We write to show our strong support for holding the line on excessive government spending.
Sincerely,
1. W. Todd Akin 2. Dick Armey 3. Spencer Bachus 4. Richard Baker 5. Cass Ballenger 6. Bob Barr 7. Roscoe Bartlett 8. Joe Barton 9. Charles Bass 10. Judy Biggert 11. Michael Bilirakis 12. Roy Blunt 13. John Boehner 14. Mary Bono 15. John Boozman 16. Kevin Brady 17. Henry Brown 18. Dan Burton 19. Ed Bryant 20. Steve Buyer 21. Ken Calvert 22. Dave Camp 23. Chris Cannon 24. Eric Cantor 25. Steve Chabot 26. Saxby Chambliss 27. Howard Coble 28. Mac Collins 29. John Cooksey 30. Christopher Cox 31. Phil Crane 32. Ander Crenshaw 33. Barbara Cubin 34. John Culberson 35. Tom Davis 36. Jim DeMint 37. Lincoln Diaz-Balart 38. David Dreier 39. John Duncan 40. Jennifer Dunn 41. Phil English 42. Jeff Flake 43. Ernie Fletcher 44. Mark Foley 45. Randy Forbes 46. Elton Gallegly 47. Greg Ganske 48. George Gekas 49. Jim Gibbons 50. Paul Gillmor 51. Ben Gilman 52. Virgil Goode* 53. Bob Goodlatte 54. Porter Goss 55. Lindsey Graham 56. James Greenwood 57. Sam Graves 58. Mark Green 59. Felix Grucci 60. Gil Gutknecht 61. James Hansen 62. Melissa Hart 63. Doc Hastings 64. J.D. Hayworth 65. Joel Hefley 66. Wally Herger 67. Van Hilleary 68. Pete Hoekstra 69. Stephen Horn 70. John Hostettler 71. Amo Houghton 72. Kenny Hulshof 73. Duncan Hunter 74. Henry Hyde 75. Darrell Issa 76. William Jenkins 77. Sam Johnson 78. Tim Johnson 79. Walter Jones 80. Ric Keller 81. Mark Kennedy 82. Brian Kerns 83. Mark Kirk 84. Ron Lewis 85. John Linder 86. Frank Lucas 87. Don Manzullo 88. Scott McInnis 89. John Mica 90. Gary Miller 91. Jeff Miller 92. Jerry Moran 93. Sue Myrick 94. Charlie Norwood 95. Jim Nussle 96. Tom Osborne 97. Doug Ose 98. C.L. Butch Otter 99. Michael Oxley 100. Ron Paul 101. Mike Pence 102. Thomas Petri 103. Chip Pickering 104. Joe Pitts 105. Todd Russell Platts 106. Richard Pombo 107. Rob Portman 108. Deborah Pryce 109. Adam Putnam 110. George Radanovich 111. Jim Ramstad 112. Tom Reynolds 113. Bob Riley 114. Mike Rogers 115. Dana Rohrabacher 116. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 117. Ed Royce 118. Paul Ryan 119. Jim Ryun 120. Jim Saxton 121. Bob Schaffer 122. Edward Schrock 123. Pete Sessions 124. John Shadegg 125. Christopher Shays 126. Clay Shaw 127. John Shimkus 128. Bill Shuster 129. Rob Simmons 130. Chris Smith 131. Nick Smith 132. Mark Souder 133. Cliff Stearns 134. Charles Stenholm 135. Bob Stump 136. John Sullivan 137. John Sununu 138. Thomas Tancredo 139. Billy Tauzin 140. Lee Terry 141. Bill Thomas 142. Mac Thornberry 143. Patrick Tiberi 144. Patrick J. Toomey 145. Fred Upton 146. David Vitter 147. Greg Walden 148. Curt Weldon 149. Dave Weldon 150. Jerry Weller 151. Joe Wilson
*Concurring letter
I find that amusing as nobody was making a damn peep over the hundreds of billions that made it past the veto pen.
If this does get vetoed, at least we would know that the current executive is capable of vetoing something. This would be the very first presidential veto of any bill, much less any big spending bill.
Obviously there's a "take back the Senate" flavor to this, but it also makes a fine House campaign issue.
Also, the prospect of (finally) some open cooperation between Congressional Republicans and the WH could have some real benefits (and also political ones) with regard to tax cuts, etc.
Which plays into presidential politics, etc.
And then there's the implications for the Supreme Court and other judicial nominations. The "obstructionist" charge is already hurting the D's, and a further "spendthrift" label hurts them more. They'll roll over on judges before the elections.
Bumping for later comments.
I'll be meeting my Congressman [#24. Eric Cantor] on Monday and will vocalize my support at that time...great to see GOP folks with some spine to withstand the urge to grow the government uncontrollably.
FReegards...MUD
I'd love to see Bush trash the Senate.
They need to hear from us when we support what they're doing, rest assured those on the list will be hearing from the other side.
Exactly. I'm not a hypocrite with my little lips sewn to a particular politicians ass. I actually have a consistant political philosophy that doesn't blow in the wind to coincide with a flawed icon's whim de jour.
I'm "bitchingandmoaning" about the same stuff I have been around here for 4 years.
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