Washington, D.C. – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today urged Congress to reduce the cost of the fiscal 2006 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 4939) by eliminating the pork instead of making an across-the-board cut.  The House version stays under President Bush’s request of $92.2 billion.  The Senate version costs $109 billion and includes items not related to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and hurricane aid in the Gulf Coast. 

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that he is not receptive to the idea of an across-the-board cut to accommodate the billions of dollars in add-ons in the Senate version.  Below are excerpts from a letter sent today by CCAGW President Tom Schatz to Rep. Boehner:   

I want to thank you on your leadership regarding an ill-advised effort to implement an across-the-board cut so Senators can retain their pork projects.  You are correct that it is time to put the word “emergency” back in emergency appropriations.

We must continue to support our troops and help real victims in the hurricane ravaged states.  It is shameful that members of Congress are taking advantage of war and a natural disaster to bring pork back to their states.  To suggest an across-the-board cut to meet the President’s request implies that military supplies that keeps our troops alive or funding to rebuild destroyed cities are on par with $700 million to reroute a railroad so casinos can be built or $594 million for highway projects, even as far as Hawaii, that have no relation to the Gulf Coast.

CCAGW agrees with your comment that it is important to put our troops first and to take care of people that have been displaced from their homes while all other requests should be handled in the ordinary course of Congressional business.  We ask that you and the rest of the House leadership instruct the House conferees on H.R. 4939 to stand firm and have the Senate conferees cede to the House on this legislation.  Conferees must not include any pork-barrel spending in the final reconciled bill.

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.