Tell House Republicans to Cease Using Taxpayer Money to Fund Overtly Political Initiative
New Petition: Tell House Republicans to Cease Using Taxpayer Money to Fund Overtly Political,Election-Year Initiative ‘America Speaking Out’
What Hypocrisy: On Heels of TheirWidely Ridiculed ‘YouCut’ Gimmick for Saving Taxpayer Money, House GOP Force Taxpayers to Fund Political Project for Winning Mid-Term Elections
MUST READ: ‘Washington Monthly: AMERICA SPEAKING OUT -- WITH AMERICA FOOTING THE BILL’
WashingtonDC– Americans United for Change launched an online petition today calling on House Republicans to immediately give back any and all taxpayer money being used to fund an overtly political project called“America Speaking Out” -- a messaging initiative akin to the famous ‘Contract With America’ effort that the GOP campaigned on in 1994. However, unlike ‘Contract With America,’ the Republican leadership are financing “America Speaking Out” with taxpayer dollars through Congress instead of through the Republican National Committee. While the Republican leadership claimsthis effort is intended to guide their “policy,” it reportedly won’t be fully unveiled until September – two months before the mid-term elections and without any time left in the legislative session – raisingserious questions for America’s taxpayers about whether they should be footing the bill for a Republican political project designed to regain control of the House of Representatives.
CLICK HERE to view the petition ‘We Won't Pay For GOP Campaigns!’ sent outtoday to activists across the nationtoday. In addition, see also a first draft of the new GOP ‘Contract With America’ that Americans United for Change recently offered to the Republican Leadership:
http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/press/releases/republican_contract_with_america/
Tom McMahon, Executive Director, Americans United for Change:“Just days after launching their ‘YouCut’ gimmick for saving taxpayer dollars that was widely ridiculed for, at best, cutting 0.017 percent of the federal budget, House Republicans are now trying to get away with charging theirpolitical project for mid-term election strategy on the government credit card. What hypocrisy and nerve. Who do they think they’re fooling claiming that their ‘Contract With America’-style initiative is anything but a political blueprint when they plan to unveil it two months from the mid-term elections, right before they break for recess? If the Republicans behind the original Contract With America thought it was too political to make taxpayers pay for it, what makes this class think they can get away with it? They can’t and they won’t. House Republicans must cease and desist forcing taxpayers to pick up the tab for blatant election-year political activity and pay back every dime they’ve wasted to date.”
Background: House Republicans Say “American Speaking Out” Is All About “Policy”
Roll Call, 5/25/10:House Republicans on Tuesday will kick off their effort to craft a new agenda with the launch of a website called AmericaSpeakingOut.com, with the intent of releasing a final document in September. But the agenda will not map the GOP path to victory through the midterm elections; instead it will serve as a policy guide for the rest of the 111th Congress, Republican leaders insist. The current House calendar anticipates an Oct. 8 adjournment.
But the GOP Congressman Behind the Effort Admits It’s All About Regaining the “Majority”
ABC News, 5/25/10: "There are a number of seats that you get just by being 'no,'" Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican spearheading the effort, told ABC News. "But you don't get a majority by just being 'no.' You've got to say what you're for."