Rep. Jerry Lewis: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
On June 3, 2009, Rep. Jerry Lewis wrote a blog post on The Hill's "Congress Blog" in which he criticized Congressional Democrats for including non-troop items in a war funding bill. Rep. Lewis must have a short memory because in 2007, he voted for a Bush war funding bill that included $17 billion in the non-troop items he now loathes.
Sound familiar? It should. As Media Matters Action Network has noted, Reps. Cantor, Pence, Boehner and Bachmann have similarly short memories.
Rep. Jerry Lewis Criticized Democrats For Including Non-Troop Items In $100 Billion War Funding Bill
Rep. Jerry Lewis Criticized Democrats For Including Non-Troop Items In War Funding Bill. In a blog post on The Hill's "Congress Blog," Rep. Jerry Lewis wrote:
The Democrats' irresponsible war funding "deal" on the Fiscal Year 2009 emergency war funding legislation will put international bailouts ahead of American troops.
[...]
Yet again, the Democrat majority is shortchanging our troops and disregarding the plight of American taxpayers. Should this 'deal' stand, I will not support this legislation. However, I look forward to working out these issues in a proper and open conference committee on this legislation. [Lewis blog post, The Hill, 6/3/09]
Yet He Voted For A $100 Billion Bush War Funding Bill Loaded Down With Non-Troop Items
In 2007, Jerry Lewis Voted H.R. 2206, Appropriating $100 Billion For The War In Iraq. In 2007, Rep. Jerry Lewis voted for H.R. 2206, a bill providing $100 billion in funding for ongoing military operations in Iraq. [H.R. 2206, Vote #181, 5/24/07; Washington Post Votes Database Project, accessed 6/3/09]
The War Funding Bill Included $17 Billion In Domestic Spending. According to the Washington Post votes database project, the bill also included:
Seventeen billion dollars in the package is for domestic spending. Out of this funding, $6.4 billion is for Gulf Coast hurricane relief efforts, $3 billion in emergency aid for farmers, $1 billion to upgrade port and mass transit security, $3 billion towards converting closing U.S. military bases to other uses, and $650 million to increase funding for children's health care. A Congressional Research Service summary states that the "other domestic beneficiaries include state HIV grant programs, mine safety research, youth violence prevention activities, and pandemic flu protection." [Washington Post Votes Database Project, accessed 6/3/09]
