“Christmas trees, political conventions, and sugar beets have no business being tied to providing our troops the emergency resources to keep them well supplied and capable of responding to the conditions on the ground no matter how one might feel about a withdrawal timeline,” said current President and CEO of the Republican Main Street Partnership and former U.S. Representative Charles F. Bass (R-NH).  “The Iraq War Supplemental bill is too important to be stuffed with billions of dollars in special interest-driven pork barrel spending that are being used to buy support for a flawed policy of micro-management and publicly announcing our military plans.” 

 “One has to wonder how the Democratic campaign pledges of fiscal responsibility translate into federal funds for political conventions and sugar canes,” Club for Growth President Pat Toomey said.  “The answer, of course, is, they don’t.  Rather, it is becoming abundantly clear from the Senate Iraq supplemental bill that many congressional members care more about their special interest buddies than the taxpayers they are supposed to represent.” 

“It’s Christmas time for Congress as visions of sugar beets dance in their heads,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “Once again the Senate has demonstrated their insatiable appetite for pork at the expense of real priorities like protecting our troops in the field.”  

The groups urge Democratic Leadership in the Senate to show restraint in using the spending bill as a political gimmick and down-payment on promises made to their special interests.   The Republican Main Street Partnership, the Club for Growth, and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste urge Senators to reject the current pork-laden bill and applaud efforts to strip unnecessary funding from this critical piece of legislation. 

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The Republican Main Street Partnership (RMSP) is dedicated to promoting and building a pragmatic, thoughtful, fiscally conservative, and inclusive “Governing Majority,” where political debate is encouraged to promote solutions to improve the lives of all Americans. Embracing the full spectrum of center-right ideologies and values in order to build coalitions, RMSP is the largest organization of elected leaders who are in the mold of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. For more information on RMSP, visit our website at www.republicanmainstreet.org. 

The Club for Growth is a nationwide membership organization dedicated to advancing public policies that promote economic growth.  The Club’s website can be found at http://www.clubforgrowth.org.