The House is set today to take up the last spending measure it has yet to approve this year, the Department of Defense Appropriations bill, and has loaded it with all the goodies leadership wants to see pass before the end of the year. We sent an alert urging members to vote against this bloated spending package, noting that we will take their votes into account in our annual ratings. From our alert:
Written at the last minute behind closed doors and not made available until late last night, the package delves into areas that are far outside the scope of the bill and extends the Patriot Act, small business loans, doc fix, the surface transportation authorization, unemployment insurance and COBRA.
Not only do these provisions have no place in a defense appropriations, bill, provisions like extension of unemployment benefits create a possible disincentive for individuals to find work, and continue to penalize low-tax productive states while rewarding states that have saddled their taxpayers with high taxes and regulations driving up the cost of doing business.
Click here to read the entire alert.