Urge President to use his veto power
Washington, D.C. – The Senate passed the $410 billion omnibus spending bill today. U.S. Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., did not support the bill. Representative Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., voted against the bill last month in the House. The delegation objected to the bill’s price tag, the process it went through and the earmarks that were not voted on separately.
“Just last month I was at the White House with many of my colleagues to talk about fiscal responsibility. This bill is the exact opposite of fiscal responsibility. I hope President Obama will follow through on his campaign promise to not sign appropriations bills with earmarks and veto this bill. My constituents don’t work double shifts to put food on the table for their family while also serving up a dish of pork to people a thousand miles away. Unfortunately, that is what this bill forces them to do,” said Enzi, a member of the Senate Budget Committee. “I voted for several amendments to cut earmarks, decrease spending and hold government agencies at last year’s funding levels. Those attempts were rebuked. This bill spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much.”
"It looks as if Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi are on auto pilot, immune to the nation’s problems. When folks in Wyoming see their wealth evaporating every day, their life savings vanishing, it scares them. This pork barrel spending is frightening people. Washington is setting spending records it should be ashamed of. Spending money we do not have,” said Barrasso. “If the President really wants to change Washington, as soon as this bill reaches his desk, he should veto it and insist the wasteful, irresponsible spending is cleaned up.”
“In his address to Congress a few weeks ago, President Obama called for a return to fiscal discipline,” Lummis said. “Unfortunately, congressional leaders did not take his words to heart. On the heels of a trillion dollar stimulus bill, this omnibus spending bill will have a devastating impact on our national debt when the economy can ill afford more federal spending. I urge the President to veto this bill and send it back to Congress so that it can be done right. Millions of American families – struggling to find jobs, put food on the table and pay their bills – are demanding we get this right.”
The $410 billion omnibus bill, H.R. 1105, contains funding for government agencies under the following areas: 1) Agriculture, 2) Commerce, Justice and Science, 3) Energy and Water, 4) Financial Services, 5) Interior and Environment, 6) Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, 7) Legislative Branch, 8) State and Foreign Operations, 9) Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.