BOEHNER: PUT THE "EMERGENCY" BACK IN EMERGENCY SPENDING

Via email:

In a press conference today, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) reiterated his stance against excessive pork-barrel spending in the emergency supplemental spending bill (hear streaming audio here; MP3 here):

"On the issue of spending in the supplemental spending bill, as I said last week, the House is committed to supporting the President's call to not spend one dollar more than what he called for, for the emergency supplemental spending bill for Katrina victims and the War in Iraq.

"Now there's been some trial balloon that has been floated that maybe we ought to have some across-the-board cut in all of these requests so that some of this additional spending, I'm sure well-intentioned and I'm sure well-meaning, can be found room for in this emergency supplemental spending bill.

"Now I think we need to put the emergency back in the emergency supplemental spending bill. This is for the War in Iraq to help our troops over there have what they need and to help those victims in the Gulf Coast in their efforts to see their recovery move ahead. It's not for all the other wishes and wants that some members on the other side of the body would like to have. So with that, let's put our troops first, let's take care of the people who've been displaced from their homes, and then the other requests we can handle in the ordinary course of business."

An op-ed in today's Washington Times takes issue with the proposed "across the board" cut to the Senate's version of the supplemental:

To achieve this across-the-board cut to reduce the Senate's proposal to the White House limit of $94.4 billion, the president's proposals for the Iraq and Afghanistan efforts would have to be cut $9.6 billion, Katrina relief by $2.6 billion and avian flu response by $304 million. In turn, these "savings" could be redeployed to provide $608 million to facilitate a casino/condo-based redevelopment scheme in Mississippi, $3.4 billion in additional farm subsidies, $967 million for fisheries assistance, $516 million in unrelated highway aid, and even $17 million for AmeriCorps.

As conferees begin negotiating to close the $17 billion gap between the House and Senate versions (or $14.5 billion gap between the Senate and president), many may see this across-the-board scheme as a path of least resistance. If so, Congress will do a grave disservice to our antiterrorism efforts and Gulf state's rebuilding to spend $12.5 billion on wasteful earmarks and corporate welfare.

Last week, the House approved the Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act (H.R. 4975), comprehensive reforms aimed at changing the way Congress spends taxpayer dollars, reducing the number of earmarks, and promoting greater fiscal responsibility.

This is getting out of hand...the Senate is getting out of hand...and WHERE IS MIKE DEWINE???