Washington, D.C. - With the economy this week pronounced to be officially in recession, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today called for the U.S. Senate to pass an economic stimulus package and hold the line on new spending and pork-barrel programs.

"Monday's announcement that recession is here should give Washington a real wake-up call.  On behalf of CCAGW’s one million members and supporters, I ask that the Senate immediately pass a true pro-growth stimulus package and send it to the president as soon as possible," CCAGW President Tom Schatz said.  "The time for playing games is over.  The House did its part and passed a stimulus package weeks ago that provides new incentives for businesses to expand and hire new employees."

"So far, the Senate leadership is not walking the walk, they’re pursuing their pork," Schatz also said.  "Subsidizing the processing of chicken manure into energy while saying agricultural waste is vital to national security is outrageous.  Securing billions of dollars to expand Amtrak, fund highway enhancements, or to bail out bison meat producers will do nothing to stimulate the economy.  The current Senate bill should be rejected by the president."

CCAGW also expressed solidarity with Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels, who has come under withering attack recently from the congressional "Tax-and-Spend Caucus" for refusing to kowtow to its demands.  The Perennial King of Pork, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.VA.), has even refused to meet with Daniels, apparently hoping to intimidate or embarrass him into submission.

"Mitch Daniels is standing at the door of the 'OK to Spend Corral,'" Schatz added.  "He and the president need backup from taxpayers to fight off the big spenders."

"With the unemployment rate at 5.4 percent, it is time for the Senate to get serious," Schatz concluded.  "The truth, which has eluded the Senate to date, is that investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses are the ones that create jobs, not the government passing out more unemployment checks or creating ‘make-work’ programs.  It’s time for the Senate to be responsible and stop playing pork-barrel politics with the economy."

CCAGW is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest taxpayer advocacy group with over one million members and supporters nationwide.  It is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.