NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS:

FreedomWorks 
Dec 15, 2010

 FREEDOMWORKS FIGHTS AGAINST THE “OMNIBUS” SPENDING BILL

Contact:
Jacqueline Bodnar

WASHINGTON, DC- With only a few days left until Christmas, Senate Democrats are planning to sneak a pork-filled “omnibus” spending bill through Congress, dumping over 1 trillion dollars’ worth of backroom bargaining into the stockings of American taxpayers. The bill is almost 2,000 pages long, and estimated to cost taxpayers about $575.13 million per page.

Despite the sweeping rejection of big-government in the 2010 midterm elections, Democrats have once again proved themselves out of touch with the majority of the American people.

“This massive bill is government gluttony at its worst,” commented Matt Kibbe, President of FreedomWorks. “This spending binge by Congress is their last attempt to pig out before we put Washington on a diet.”

The gargantuan bill is peppered with $8 billion in earmarks and pet projects, including:

• $522,000 for cranberry and blueberry disease and breeding in New Jersey
• $500,000 for oyster safety in Florida
• $413,000 for peanut research in Alabama
• $247,000 for virus free wine grapes in Washington
• $208,000 beaver management in North Carolina
• $300,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii

In addition, the bill includes over $1 billion in new Obamacare funding, a program recently declared unconstitutional by a Virginia federal judge.

Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Jim Webb (D-VA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) are among the key targets in the upcoming vote- many of whom are up for re-election in 2012. Although support for the bill will come mostly from Democrats, a few lame duck Republicans are considering backing the last-chance spending spree.  Among them are defeated Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT), retiring Senators George Voinovich (R-OH) and Kit Bond (R-MO).

“Make no mistakes, the Republicans voicing support for this bill are on their way out for a reason,” warned Kibbe. “The people sent a message loud and clear to Congress this year: We are sick and tired of business as usual in Washington. We are not going away. We’re watching you, and we are going to be naming names after this vote.”

True fiscal conservatives in the Senate, including Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R- SC), are demanding that clerks read the bill in its entirety on the Senate floor before a vote.

FreedomWorks will be on the front lines in the war against excessive spending, and directing all members and grassroots activists to www.StopPorkSpending.com. Here constituents will be able to call their Senators and remind them that if they’re unable to defend our freedoms and advocate sustainable economic policy, we will vote in somebody who will.