Washington, Mar 16, 2006 - U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland today voted against the approximately $91 billion emergency spending bill for the war and Katrina, saying that funding for the military effort should be voted on separately.

"We all support the troops and we want to give them the resources they need, but I have a serious problem with stuffing these ‘emergency’ spending bills with other projects as a way to avoid the regular budget process," Westmoreland said. "We make an exception for war spending; the rest of these projects aren’t exceptional and conservatives concerned about deficit spending are making a statement with this vote: We’re not going to support anything and everything wrapped around war funding.

"Emergency spending bills have been turned into Santa’s goody bag and we need to reform that process. Let’s vote on war funding in a standalone bill and then debate the rest of these projects through the normal budget process."

Through a series of amendments offered on the bill, Westmoreland voted for five amendments that would cut certain spending projects from the overall bill. In total, the amendments – none of which passed the House – would cut more than $19 billion from the overall bill. Some of the projects included were money for Radio Free Europe (even though the Iron Curtain fell 15 years ago), funding for educational missions in Iran and home heating assistance.

Westmoreland opposed every amendment that would add spending to the bill. Combined, the amendments would have added $5.2 billion to the bill.

"I hate that I’m being forced to vote against this bill that provides very important funding for our troops," Westmoreland said. "I hope we can reform the process before the next time we have an ‘emergency.’"