Shuster Signs Letter to Pelosi: Fund Troops, not Profligate Spending

Congressman Bill Shuster joined 173 of his House Republican colleagues in singing a letter to Speaker Pelosi urging her to produce a clean DOD Appropriations Conference Report that does not include miscellaneous spending and the largest debt increase in American history:

“The Democrats under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi are preparing to bring a DOD spending bill to the floor of the House in the form of a Christmas tree laden with gifts to special interests and Democrat priorities,” Shuster said.

“Giving Speaker Pelosi and her leaders in Congress a blank check to spend more by increasing our debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion is irresponsible and to tie it to legislation to fund our soldiers fighting in Afghanistan is reprehensible,” Shuster continued. “We need to pass a clean defense spending bill without delay.”

The House is expected to take up the DOD Appropriations Conference Report in the next few days. The text of the letter bearing Shuster’s signature is attached below and a copy can be found online here.

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of the House

U.S. Capitol

Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Madam Speaker,

We write today to express our strong opposition to reports that the Democrat Majority is considering attaching unrelated and extremely controversial proposals, such as an increase in the public debt limit, to the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations bill. We object to maneuvers to use our troops as leverage to enact proposals that the Majority either cannot pass on their own or for which they wish to avoid directly voting on and we will oppose a Defense Appropriations package that includes such provisions.

Unfortunately, there seems to be pattern developing this year of using legislation that supports our men and women in uniform to pass other contentious proposals that are extraneous to our troops. We should supply those who risk their lives for our country with the resources they need without conditions and without using them to accomplish other legislative goals. House Republicans stand ready to help the Majority enact a defense bill that meets the needs of our troops, but we will not assist your effort to use the troops to enact an increase in our national debt limit so as to finance the irresponsible spending policies of your party.

Sincerely,

(174 House Republicans)

Leader Boehner has more over at his own GOP Leader Blog