Washington, D.C. – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today released the following excerpt of a letter from CCAGW President Thomas A. Schatz to the Senate:

“Before the August recess, you may have the opportunity to vote on the Advance America’s Priorities Act, also known as the “Coburn Omnibus” to address legislative holds that Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), along with several other Senators, have placed on a variety of bills.  These senators do not want Congress to subject taxpayers to billions of dollars in new spending for numerous government programs without a proper debate on the programs’ merits and costs. … I urge you to vote against cloture unless spending for the bill is offset by cutting spending elsewhere.

“The magnitude of Congress’s spending problem cannot be overstated.  In the first nine months of fiscal year 2008, the budget deficit was $148 billion higher than in the previous year.  As our national debt nears $10 trillion, you and your colleagues in the Senate must take the time to determine whether or not it is worth it to pass billions of dollars in new spending, adding to the debt burden that will be passed onto our children and grandchildren. “This action is another attempt to rubber stamp more government spending without considering the cost or impact on our nation’s finances.  These actions hardly live up to the perception that the Senate is ‘the world’s greatest deliberative body.’  If the legislation in the Advance America’s Priorities Act is worthy of taxpayer money and government resources, surely the Senate should have no problem spending time to debate the individual bills.

“As stated by Sen. Coburn, some of the legislation contained in the Advance America’s Priorities Act may be worthy of government funding.  Yet in order to determine this, the Senate must carefully examine all the bills and decide whether the programs in question duplicate already existing programs, whether they actually benefit the intended recipients, and whether they are worth spending valuable tax dollars. ...”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.