Congressman Jerry Lewis, Republican Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee today introduced a clean supplemental that would provide troop funding without all the pork barrell, vote buying provisions Speaker Pelosi intends to include.
Lewis’ release:
Lewis Introduces H.R. 6026 – A Clean Supplemental to Provide Troop Funding
Without Strings and Extraneous Spending
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of the continued Republican opposition to the Democrats’ yet-unseen supplemental war funding legislation, today Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif), Ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, introduced a separate war funding bill (H.R. 6026) as an alternative to the Democrats’ catch-all spending proposal*.
Lewis’s bill provides much-needed funding for U.S. servicemen and women, the Department of Defense, and foreign operations overseas. Unlike the Democrats’ legislation – which has yet to be revealed to Members of Congress or the public – Lewis’s bill is “clean” and does not include extraneous spending and war policy provisions.
In addition, the Democrat proposal would tie strings on the troop funding by including unacceptable war policies to overstep our experienced military commanders, politicize our national security, and legislate war strategy. Lewis’s bill contains no such egregious provisions.
“Our troops have been waiting for over a year for Congress to approve the funds they need to do their jobs. However, the Democrat leadership of the House has chosen to reward the service and patience of our men and women in uniform by loading up their funding legislation with unrelated spending and inappropriate war policy provisions,” Lewis said.
“Contrary to the Democrat supplemental legislation, my bill will provide our troops with the resources they need – without expensive add-ons designed to sway votes and provide political cover for anti-war Democrats.” Lewis continued.
Lewis’s bill matches the President’s request and includes $178 billion in total spending for the Department of Defense, State and Foreign operations, and military construction. In comparison, the Democrat proposal contains approximately $250 billion in total spending and includes funds for numerous extraneous programs – such as $51 billion in a new veterans’ entitlement program, $11 billion in unemployment insurance extension, $178 million for federal prisons, and $210 million for the 2010 census.
*Funding levels related Democrat’s supplemental proposal are estimates due to lack of available text.