Gallegly Statement on the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008

Press Release

Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Ventura & Santa Barbara Counties) made the following statement on the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008.

"The House Democratic leadership tried to use the Iraq/Afghanistan supplemental as a $250 billion Christmas tree filled with domestic spending unrelated to war spending.

"I and most other Republicans withheld our votes to force the Democrats to come back with a clean war funding bill. It worked. The Democrats will have to modify the bill and bring it back.

"My vote on the so-called GI Bill—an amendment to the Emergency Supplemental—is similar. I am, in fact, a sponsor of the GI Bill, but Democrats attached so much pork to the bill that it became a wasteful expenditure instead of a bill to help our military men and women. We must support our military men and women. We also must control spending. It's unconscionable that Democrats would exploit our troops to accelerate their wasteful spending.

"Among the items the Democrats attached to the GI Bill was a $51.6 Billion Tax Increase, a Medicaid Regulations Moratorium, USAID funding for foreign countries, Gulf Coast Levees funding, and funding for the Bureau of Prisons and Census Bureau.

"One could argue any of these on their merits. But Democrats should not be exploiting our troops to force the passage of unrelated items. Give us an up and down vote on the GI Bill. Then we can have an up and down vote on these other issues."

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