Porkbusters: Reps urge House leadership to hold the line

The fight against the pork-laden emergency supplemental bill is now moving to the House, where leaders Boehner and Hastert have both vowed to ensure that the Senate's bloated version does not make it to President Bush's desk.

Now it seems they have support and encouragement from many of their colleagues. Porkbusters received a copy of the attached letter from thirty Representatives expressing support for the President's veto threat, declaring:

Dear Republican Leadership,

We write to you today to express our concern regarding the growing cost of H.R. 4939, the FY2006 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery.

Since the House passed this bill on March 16,2006, the Senate has been adding billions of dollars in non-emergency spending to a measure that is meant to provide emergency funds to our troops in the field and those still recovering from one of our county's worst natural disasters.

One particularly egregious earmark seeks $700 million in federal funds to move a railroad track that had just been repaired at a cost of $250 million. Supporters of the project say the rail line needs to be moved because it is vulnerable to hurricane damage. Yet the proposed new location is just a short distance inland and was greatly damaged by Katrina last year. There is well documented evidence that the real reason supporters want this newly repaired rail line moved is to make room for casino development along the Gulf Coast.

While these Senators are fighting to secure money for pet projects, American servicemen and women are awaiting these funds to fight for the cause of freedom. Senators who have been adding billions to the bottom line of this legislation by insisting that pet projects be receive funds are jeopardizing the passage of this measure.
We applaud President'Bush for issuing a strong veto threat against the bill unless it is under his $92 billion request. We also encourage you to work to strip these unnecessary spending increases from the bill when this measure reaches conference.

PDF of the letter with signatures is here (550 KB).

As the signatures on the letter aren't all quite legible, listed below are the Representatives who signed.

Page 1:
1. Joe Pitts
2. Bob Inglis
3. Paul Ryan
4. Gil Gutknecht
5. Chris Chocola
6. Todd Tiahrt
7. Gresham Barrett
8. Tom Feeney
9. Dan Burton
10. Tom Tancredo
11. E Scott Garrett
12. Dave Weldon
13. Stevan Pearce
14. Robert Aderholt
15. Randy Neugebauer
16. Marilyn Musgrave
17. John Culberson
18. Mike Sodrel
19. Virginia Foxx
20. Steve King
21. Jeff Flake
22. Jeb Hensarling

Page 2:
23. John Sullivan
24. Jeff Miler
25. Jeff Fortenberry
26. Mark Souder
27. Roscoe Bartlett
28. Micheal McCaul
29. Jo Ann Davis
Stevan Pearce (Duplicate signature)
30. Ernest Istook