Rep. Pence: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
On June 3, 2009, House Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence criticized Congressional Democrats for including non-troop items in a war funding bill. Rep. Pence 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, Bachmann, Boehner and Jerry Lewis have similarly short memories.
Rep. Pence Criticized Democrats For Including Non-Troop Items In $100 Billion War Funding Bill
Rep. Pence Criticized Democrats For Including Non-Troop Items In War Funding Bill. While speaking with reporters after a meeting of the House Republican Conference, House Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence said:
An emergency war funding bill should be about one thing: giving our troops the resources they need to complete their mission. [Pence Release, 6/3/09]
Yet He Voted For A $100 Billion Bush War Funding Bill Loaded Down With Non-Troop Items
In 2007, Pence Voted H.R. 2206, Appropriating $100 Billion For The War In Iraq. In 2007, Rep. Mike Pence 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]
